AGL 37.76 Decreased By ▼ -0.39 (-1.02%)
AIRLINK 129.29 Increased By ▲ 4.22 (3.37%)
BOP 7.42 Increased By ▲ 0.57 (8.32%)
CNERGY 4.61 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (3.6%)
DCL 8.68 Increased By ▲ 0.77 (9.73%)
DFML 38.70 Increased By ▲ 1.36 (3.64%)
DGKC 81.00 Increased By ▲ 3.23 (4.15%)
FCCL 32.55 Increased By ▲ 1.97 (6.44%)
FFBL 74.71 Increased By ▲ 5.85 (8.5%)
FFL 12.32 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (3.88%)
HUBC 109.20 Increased By ▲ 4.70 (4.5%)
HUMNL 13.95 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (3.41%)
KEL 4.99 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (7.31%)
KOSM 7.64 Increased By ▲ 0.47 (6.56%)
MLCF 38.25 Increased By ▲ 1.81 (4.97%)
NBP 72.29 Increased By ▲ 6.37 (9.66%)
OGDC 186.98 Increased By ▲ 7.45 (4.15%)
PAEL 25.39 Increased By ▲ 0.96 (3.93%)
PIBTL 7.33 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (2.52%)
PPL 150.68 Increased By ▲ 6.98 (4.86%)
PRL 25.25 Increased By ▲ 0.93 (3.82%)
PTC 17.25 Increased By ▲ 0.85 (5.18%)
SEARL 82.00 Increased By ▲ 3.43 (4.37%)
TELE 7.58 Increased By ▲ 0.36 (4.99%)
TOMCL 32.42 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (1.41%)
TPLP 8.46 Increased By ▲ 0.33 (4.06%)
TREET 16.30 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (1.05%)
TRG 56.17 Increased By ▲ 1.51 (2.76%)
UNITY 28.30 Increased By ▲ 0.80 (2.91%)
WTL 1.33 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (3.1%)
BR100 10,534 Increased By 445 (4.41%)
BR30 30,951 Increased By 1441.8 (4.89%)
KSE100 98,255 Increased By 3680.6 (3.89%)
KSE30 30,652 Increased By 1206.7 (4.1%)

A sea of around 45,000 supporters of Catalan independence demonstrated in Brussels on Thursday to back deposed president Carles Puigdemont and urge the EU to stop siding with Spain over the region's independence drive. Demonstrators chanted "Wake up Europe!" and waved Catalonia's red, yellow and blue separatist flag as they marched past the European Union headquarters in the Belgian capital.
"Have you ever seen a demonstration like this anywhere to support criminals? No!," Puigdemont said in a speech to the crowd, referring to Spanish criminal charges against him, as cries of "president, president" rang out. Puigdemont and four former ministers fled to Brussels in November, saying they wanted to take their cause to the European level after Spain charged them with sedition and rebellion over Catalonia's independence referendum in October.
The 28-nation EU has so far strongly backed the Spanish government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy over the biggest political crisis to hit the country for decades, saying the Catalan issue is an internal matter for Madrid. On Monday, Spain dropped a European arrest warrant for the five, but Puigdemont said he would stay put for now as they still face arrest in Spain if they return for regional polls in Catalonia that Madrid has called for December 21. "We have come to ask Europe to wake up and to see that there is no democracy in Spain," Montserrat Mante, 73, from the town of Badalona, near Barcelona, told AFP.
"The countries of the EU must push Mr Rajoy to enter talks and to accept the result of a referendum, whatever it is," said Mante, wearing a woollen hat to guard against the cold.

Comments

Comments are closed.