Pro-refugee demonstration in Barcelona draws in 160,000 people: “Enough excuses, take them in now”

IN WHAT is probably one of the biggest protests Barcelona has ever seen in recent history, over 160,000 people gathered in Spain's second city calling for the government to 'stop making excuses' and take in refugees from the Syrian and Iraq wars.

Every single political party in Catalunya's regional government – except the right-wing PP, currently reigning in national Parliament – backed the mammoth protest, which started at 16.00 today (Saturday).

After marching the whole of the city centre, the demonstrators finished in the Plaza Urquinaona, which turned out to be way too small for everyone to fit into.

Carrying banners reading Volem acollir ('We want to take them in'); Catalunya, terra d'acollida ('Catalunya, land of refuge'), and Prou excuses! Acollim ara! ('Enough excuses! Take them in now!'), the total number of marchers made up the equivalent of three times the population of the average seaside tourist town or around that of a small provincial capital city.

They were joined by associations such as SOS Racism and Tanquem els CIE ('Let's shut the CIEs', or immigrant internment centres), Papeles para Todos ('Documents for everyone'), 'Stop Mare Mortum ('Stop the Sea of Death'), and charities such as Proactiva Open Arms, which works hands-on in the refugee camps in Greece, Turkey and Italy and on the shores of these countries rescuing desperate migrants risking their lives on the open water.

The group Casa Nostra, Casa Vostra ('Our house, your house') organised a theatre show with the stage company La Fura dels Baus, and a concert with the Barcelona Gypsy Balkan Orchestra – a nod to the last wave of refugees across Europe – that of the Bosnians and Kosovo-Albanians during the 1990s which was, at the time, the second-largest since World War II and has now been reduced to the third-largest after being overtaken by the Syrians.

Spain's government has promised to take a total of 18,000 refugees from Greek, Italian, Turkish, Jordanian and Lebanese camps before the end of 2017, but so far has taken in fewer than 2,000.

This said, the Spanish government has shown itself to be among the most willing in the EU, with the low number being mainly due to red tape and multi-layered administrative procedures rather than reluctance.

Spain is one of the EU's most passionately pro-refugee countries, despite over one in five of the working age being unemployed, whilst wealthier countries in Europe and worldwide continue to resist refugee resettlement out of unfounded terrorism-related fears.

Politicians and union leaders in Barcelona and the wider region of Catalunya complained about the 'serious injustice' in European policies towards 'people fleeing war and misery'.

“We're talking about human beings who simply want to save their own lives,” said Gabriela Serra, MP for the pro-independence party CUP.

“The fact that the European and Spanish governments are failing refugees is no excuse for that of Catalunya to neglect to do as much as possible to help – and if we need to disobey rules to do so, we'll disobey them.

“There's no legal basis in the EU for us to shy away from our moral duty to take in victims of war, poverty and violence forced to flee their own homes.”