Supporters of independence for Spain’s Catalonia region held a massive rally in Barcelona on Saturday, Euronews reports.
The police estimated 200,000 took to the streets of Catalonia’s capital but organisers put the figure at half a million.
The rally came after Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he would call early elections for April 28th after Catalan parties withdrew their support from his minority government.
They did so because Catalan leaders are on trial for organising an illegal referendum and then declaring independence in their regional parliament.
The first opinion poll gives Sanchez’s Socialist party the lead but without a big enough majority to avoid another minority government.