1.8 million - brought Barcelona to a standstill for a dramatic V shaped independence protest - people staged a massive protest yesterday in Barcelona for the right to vote on Catalonia’s political future on the 9th of November, a date for which a referendum-style consultation is planned which still faces blockage from Madrid. The demonstration had a V shape – the V standing for “votar” (voting) and “voluntat” (will) – and its participants also formed a human mosaic of the Catalan flag, with red stripes on a yellow background.

Social media was busy with images of the protest, and we also heard from hundreds of attendees via GuardianWitness. Using images from both, we have pieced together the unfolding of the demonstration. At exactly 17:14 local time, the V was formed as the two 11km-long strands of people got together: At that time, a girl symbolically placed a vote in a ballot box at the vortex of the “V”. Some famous personalities joined in, such as FC Barcelona footballer Gerard Piqué

Scottish ex-footballer Steve Archibald was tweeting to inform his fellow citizens:

Continuing with the Scottish theme, messages of solidarity were tweeted:

Catalans are, of course, watching events in Scotland with great interest. We heard from Catalans seeking a secession vote on what they think about Scotland’s own independence vote, and plenty of Saltires found their way to the streets of Barcelona.

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