A year after threatening the unity of Spain with an attempt to declare independence, the former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont launched a new party on Saturday, as he tries to rally separatists from his base in Belgium.
The new group, named "The Call", will hold a founding congress Saturday evening, marking the one year anniversary of the secession push, but it has struggled to attract a groundswell of support, with some allies languishing in Spanish jails and others choosing a more moderate political path.
"The year that separates us from this historic date did not unfold as we wished," said new Catalan leader Quim Torra, in a sombre televised address to mark the October 27, 2017 declaration of independence.
Attendees hold up banner reading in Catalan "freedom" during the founding convention of the new Catalan separatist party "The Call" in Manresa, on October 27, 2018. /VCG Photo
"But turning back is not an option."
The independence declaration threw Spain into political turmoil, with the central government ousting Puigdemont, who then fled to Belgium, dissolving parliament and imposing direct control over the wealthy northeastern region.
Snap polls in December saw separatist parties once again win an absolute majority in the regional parliament.
But Torra, who regularly seeks counsel from Puigdemont, presides over a Catalan government divided between those who back disobedience to advance the cause of independence and those who favor dialogue with new Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
The trial of 18 former Catalan leaders over their role in the separatist push, expected to start in early 2019, helps to keep the separatist camp mobilized.
The meeting of Puigdemont's party on Saturday is due to be held in the pro-independence town of Manresa, in the center of Catalonia, near to the prison where the independence leaders are being held.