There are always demonstrations in Palma on the evening of 30 December. The homage paid to King Jaume I in advance of today's Festival of the Standard provokes demands for Majorcan sovereignty, and yesterday was no different.
Some 2,000 people took part in the sovereignty march. The main banner called for there to be a roadmap to sovereignty. Chief among organisations involved were the political parties Més and the Esquerra Republicana (Republican Left), the STEI teachers union and the Fundació Emili Darder, which takes its name from the Republican mayor of Palma who was executed in 1937. Més politicians were to the fore; they included the vice-president, Biel Barceló, environment minister Vicenç Vidal and the president of the Council of Majorca, Miquel Ensenyat.
There was, as is usual, a trading of insults and boos by "españolistas" and "independentistas", with the loudest boos reserved (as normal) for the fiercely anti-Catalanist Círculo Balear. A total of thirty groups (political and other) paid their tributes to Jaume I; these included the town hall, the government, the Council of Majorca, Més and Esquerra Republicana.
A heavy police presence meant that there were no incidents; there has in the past been some violence. But away from the Plaça Espanya, where the tributes to Jaume were made, there was a separate protest in the Parc de ses Estacions. A manifesto was read in favour of Catalan independence supporters who face High Court action over the burning of images of King Felipe. Two members of the youth organisation Arran burned a photo of the King, stating that this was an act of solidarity with those who have been indicted by the court.
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