Catalan Way
Catalonia saw several local referenda for independence take place in hundreds of villages between 13 September 2009 and April 2011, with an overwhelming number of "yes" votes being cast.
The 2012 Catalan independence demonstration, organized by the Catalan National Assembly, argued that Catalonia should become an independent state within the European Union, under the slogan "Catalonia, new state in Europe". The number of participants was estimated at about 1.5 million according to Barcelona's Municipal Police and Catalonia's Department of the Interior, about 2 million according to the organizers, and about 600,000 according to the delegation of the Spanish government in Catalonia.
Reactions to the Catalan independence referendum, 2017
Catalonian President Carles Puigdemont said he will keep his pledge to declare independence unilaterally. He added that Catalonia "has won the right to become an independent state." He further blamed the situation in Catalonia on the "intransigence, the repression, the complete denial of reality, the hostility seen during the democratic demands made by our country" and that "on this day of hope and suffering, Catalonia’s citizens have earned the right to have an independent state in the form of a republic ... We have earned the right to be listened to, respected and recognised."