the culture information, this is the, the news w mines. these places in europe are the record stepped into a venture. it's the treasure map for modern globetrotters. discover some of us record breaking site on google maps, youtube, and now also in book form the castle. loony of his phone to the city of barcelona. spectacular peer in these mountains and the beaches of the costa bravo. the region in northeast in spain is of vacation paradise. the

heat seems so a place of proud history and tradition. the response of the lines of picturesque sights conflict to simmering many catalan's wants the region to become independent. the in 2017 catalans held a referendum on independence from spain. the spanish government trying to prevent it at all costs, ever since then. tension slipping, running high catalonia will never be its own country. the region is deeply divided around half the population. don't think independence is a good idea. no,

but i want to say that you can't impose independence with only 50 percent approval . it'd be a disaster. spain's government prevented independence in 2017, including by using force the as an auto and that we can never forgive them. and like, how could it come to that? and what makes such testimonials the every 2 years. the old bull fighting of rena integra go now plays close to the biggest competition of cash deals for human talents. both financing is banned in catalonia. now the stadium celebrates the regions traditional schools. side i do believe to to data is a strong support for of independence. she and her girlfriends have travel here from the city you for those to take part in the events

we used for the 1st time with the tower builders, from sales. we proud about team b that then by defense to come along. that's kind of so then hospitality for you and i'll be helping to build the foundation. i don't know how, but i'll do it on the competitors inspect. changes seeing if a triumphant and prosperous catalonia, the official ent and the be so tournaments region during the fascist dictatorship under general franco, the song was outlook for almost 40 years until 1975. that struggle for recognition resonates each time its sung. the push for independence has grown out of a conviction that kaplan's have been fighting in vain for the freedom. for centuries . the of

the many united by the feeling that they oppose to be spanish against the will at events like these. finally, catalan's spoken, the language plays a major role in the self image of this would be nation. the, even the speech they come to play is charged with political significance. the human towers, which can only grow in teammates work together symbolically powerful competitors need coverage, is they find to create the tool as talent. the best teams can create

up to 10 levels of human architecture. the. this particular castille competition is taking place on a significant date. it's the 1st of october 2020 to exactly 5 years after the referendum. that support is fail, so nearly secure the independence. the magazine, a counseling nation seems within reach the . ready in 2017 the castle and regional governments took a risky gamble. it scheduled a referendum to let the people decide whether they wanted to lead spain. the. the madrid's reaction was swift

labeling the referendum is unconstitutional and sending police to prevent the voting from taking place across spain. supporters of national unity cold for a cracked town on the independence movements the the police used fools to keep motions away from folding stations. monta ro, c k is spines, youngest, low, making and to students, separatist, the cheese being functioning for calculating independence since childhood. the so the referendum brings up painful memories. valencia and they got that on. this was violence committed against other lines and against democracy. it was also class violence in human violence on that as in they

treated us as if we were being violent. i went on, we wanted to do was vote in yes. and we can't possibly forgive them for that. the in like, have to this day, the government claims and we were violence in what this is to them. violence means wanting to go and vote antibody. meanwhile, they think that sending police with the tons to put down on demonstrations isn't violent, that it doesn't make any sense. then they got some big just fine from the truth. zill, physician, the counselor and government went ahead about 90 percent of both resulted to secede from spain. but the results was skewed because there was virtually no participation from opponents of independence. opinion suggested that only the capital ends were in favor of a separate states. even so, catalonia is regional president colors preach to mount declared independence because he didn't the was natalie that the semester as president of catalonia here by announced the result of the referendum to you and to our citizens,

to that ends with the mandate of the people, catalonia will become an independent republic, but just seconds later, the applause don't. you remember the just allowing me that i'll go back to the government and i propose that parliament suspend the consequences of this declaration of independence and then then begin i me to use in dialogue next week and putting them without which there can be no conciliatory solution. and the others instead of pushing ahead to cancel and government closed for dialogue. the response was anything but conciliatory. the spanish government in prisons, katelyn politicians and activists, and imposed direct rule on the autonomous region. tweets demona slit the country the

the city of barcelona is a tourist magnet t northeast in spain, among the luxury yachts and the high rise hotels. a small fishing industry still exists. august the romeo polanko and david b. o catalog were once odd and supporters of the independents movements. in the beginning, we took part in all the demonstrations on the 11th of september. catalonia is national holiday. the chief again, we were always their heart and soul familiar. we took our families sing along, did everything you'd expect to go to? i don't know. of course, we were always peaceful. it was every year on the 11th of september, we were out on the streets demonstrating augustine,

romeo polanko is especially disappointed that the cattle in government so quickly withdrew the independence declaration in 2017 like many cattle lands he feels betrayed by the regions political leaders, the politicians back down. no, i don't know if it was out of cowardice or because they had a sense of what was coming good babies, but they must have known beforehand, you know, they were going to be punished when i, they'd already gone so far as if people were celebrating in the streets to see that they should have gone through with it and the consequences would have been the same. they would have been punished, but at least the people would have been given something to keep the illusion going . yes or for it is of it that they would have felt that they had succeeded the fact that the politicians just gave up as wide many people walked away disappointed.

catalonia arisen, among spain's most economically strong regions, contributing a feat that they can only count, put that's lead st. protests to believe that the region would be better off on its own body. it's also wind cattle. lonia is so vital to spain, it seems implausible, but madrid would ever ground independence to the catalans. spain will never allow us to be in favor of independence. they won't even let us hold a referendum because the results still scares them. they'll argue that support for independence has dropped in the polls, but they'll still be afraid of a referendum. the

motto ro c k is on her way to test as you test to you own in spanish, 200 kilometers south west of barcelona. the, the city using the valencia region outside catalonia is political board, is despite based katelyn is also spoken to you. in fact, it's been an official language for years. rosie k has come to demonstration in favor of preserving the language under the dictates of franco speaking capital and in public was forbidden. even place names and of the proper nouns which translated into spanish. but since 1979 catalan has being recognized as an official language, once again, separate is defined, a would be nation by its linguistic food is. that means they also lay claim to valencia and the valley, eric islands, when capital and dialects has spoken to them,

coming together to demonstrate the story report. and it shows that the cause we are defending isn't the cause of just a few people. and that we can achieve something if we organized the, with regular demonstrations. active is trying to keep the dream of an independent capital lonia aligned. the people claim the independence movement has the windows. but you can't quite say that looking at what we see here in custody you, it's often harder to get people here excited about the cause as opposed to in barcelona or places like you don't. a roman business like

independence activists also get support from outside the region from capital and politicians living in exile. the satera dupel east towards china has come to friends to meet with katelyn ex president collis points to moment who leads the next island. belgian for the activist points to monty's the legitimate president of a free castle, lonia. she still has faith in him and his views on independence, the persistence of her life. the movement comes from below. and we have to maintain that that's one of its strength. and it makes us resilience because we've had

5 last 2 years without democracy during which we face state repression and ceaseless attacks. women, we wouldn't have survived that if we weren't a grassroots civic movement based on free will and popular engagement. so from what i'm very grateful to the president on a policy that for me, who's the president we should have today. i don't know if i'll ever see a free it has a no need to myself, but i'll keep sizing until the end. non stop refusal to now but you know, whole people in capital and you'll see it that way about the costs of them wants to remain punch in spain. the,

it's the 12th of october, spain's national holiday in the middle of the capital and capital barcelona people with spanish flags through the streets, among the catalans who clearly oppose independence. many of the band is being carried at those at the right wing populace policy vaults seems to parties bounding in 2017. it's made the most of calculating independence. an ideal issue for the national risk to rail against volts is the 3rd largest policy in spanish parliament. even in catalonia executed nearly 8 sent of the voting regional elections. yes, fun. yeah, the only testimonial will never become its own country. long live spain, the opponents of independence aren't just demonstrating on catalonia streets and

squares, they're also taking masses into their own hands. this is tanya, again, 130 kilometers west of fonts alone. under cover of darkness and t, independence, active as serial. and the move, the brake hold themselves cleaning brigades, the vs to a lot of the castle and independence flag is ubiquitous around many towns and villages . they want to change this guy. i mean the assessor was the cleaning, the gates are groups of citizens. i moved up their own for you will have decided to come together and clean up on public spaces and that's out there. we don't hang symbols of our idea all legit and didn't work today. we don't try to impose or ideology on anyone else. you're not here,

but it's true that we're trying to clean up public places like school buildings, that playgrounds in the city halls, land posts and so on. i can't, i mean to cut or less the, particularly in the country side. separatism has strong support around here, opponents of independence can expect to be greeted with hostility. like a moment, the pointing tip of it, when we come up to the balconies of a car drives by they might consult us, throw things at us or trying to attack us. that's happen a couple of times. the next that guide you to think is a street has to be democrats. it has to belong to everyone. everyone's free to display whatever symbols they want in their house, the public streets. so it should be free of that. in fact, the flag with the white star has been banned in public places since 2018. but in

many places it remains hanging in protest against spain. when the, when the illegal vote took place on october, the 1st of 2017, i realized that i couldn't sit on the sofa and watch them take my country away. they wanted to create a division that didn't exist. so i told myself i had to do something. i asked friends, hey, what can we do to stuff these crazy people are stuck in the, in the square by the town who the police are waiting. but that doesn't to, to the activists that they want to remove the independence flag from the town whole balcony. they feel like they're in the right above the police and stuff them like stays on the town hall. i'm going to take that sofa. you know,

you're not listening to me in your system, the status of the. needless to say, it's an independent supply. and the supreme court has clearly said that this flag is a political symbol. just like the yellow ribbon. you're not going to city hall is a public facility that we all pay for it though it's not allowed to carry political symbolism. police take the details box. the activists don't face serious consequences. the self proclaimed cleaning brigade since its mission was successful. he took down most of the independence flags in the village. these goods, lita is pilla by the end of us in a secret location outside barcelona. she receives the spoils of a night's mission. this is one of dozens of warehouses across catalonia, where for the last 5 years, opponents of independence have stored the objects. they seize flags, ribbons,

and signs, claiming places to be part of the nonexistent katelyn republic. put in the system, the difference between them and is that we have to add a secret at night. whereas they put the flags back up with the help of the city council and public money in the, in the field off every, in those 1st joined the brigade because she didn't want to bound to push it from the separatists. you don't know who it was. sure. harassment, you had to agree completely with their ideas. you were forced to become more and more committed to independence, a yellow scarf here, yellow underpants of their yellow socks, and on and on it, i don't like anything yellow anymore. and it used to be my favorite color. i don't know if i'm even gone through and then they said to me that i didn't understand that it was a matter of feeling. but you can govern a state with feelings of whether or not we need a clear legal system,

someone feelings. and what if i feel differently tomorrow? the feelings? what rubbish on the conference in here. yeah, somebody until the 20 minute though. no. every opponent of being dependencies on the political rights process. separatist movement has pre defined deal bogeyman for spain's file, right? politicians that are exploding the issue for their own in mid treat. the 20th of november, the fascist fell on hate piracy monks, the end of the 3 of the death of its found the fall on hey, was the only posse during franco's dictatorship. these days it smoke and hasn't had a leg total success boss. it's still legal and allowed to hold public gatherings to daily commemorate our founder, jose antonio playing with the van on the 1st anniversary of his assassination. he said that our electrics were good as the 1st means of communication. but that when

justice and the fatherland were in danger, there was no argumentation except that a fist and pistols. every decent spanish person should be against all the separate discomfort. i want to destroy spain, secret national unity. c recently the government in mid trade has been reaching out to capital ends tossing a little bit, could see separatist leaders guessing length of sentences. but that's outraged the right. well the separate to say it doesn't go far enough. they are insisting on a referendum. i made these heated debates about the future of catalonia motor voices. risk getting drowned down here in barcelona aust owed on ventura. ruiz is beginning his day. as i said, i said that i moved to barcelona as a student, us and it was

a time when my whole world opened up a time of freedom of meeting new people and of studying at university of us. and uh, let's do this, the old ones into, or ruiz leaves in public sick, a former working class neighborhood in the center of the city. okay. yeah, you have more the more that lots of different people live here. yeah. so many of them are local, someone that there are also lots of democrats. yeah. when i'm getting them in, in dc. so you might see a separate his flag on the 2nd floor and the spanish flag on the 3rd floor. i think the people co exist here and they know how to get along with each other. i'm guessing i don't know the identifying strongly as capital in the divisiveness in his time. land worries him. i mean, i have the same line for me in the day independence was unilaterally declared, was a painful thing. maybe i could see that things were moving more and more quickly in a direction that would only cause problem is split the problem. i know

separatists derisively refer to people like ventura as a key. desantis people without the position. i think it was a difficult time, especially for people like me for neither for nor against independence went on in. okay. yeah, i didn't think it was the right time or the right and that that's part of last. nobody explained to us what it would means to be independent and say i or the castle and leadership never formulated a concrete plan for a pos to independence or for capital loony is economic or political future for supporters of independence. vague promises of freedom were enough ink of 78. the only thing we knew for sure was that there would be an economic crisis, a legend that imagined. and the truth is that people of my generations had already been through a lot of pricing in the the so i felt that it was time to focus on other things.

and we'll buy at a time when europe has done away with its borders. i'm wondering when we all have the same currency, is that the moment to create smaller, closed off territories that has an experience and yet was, that doesn't mean we don't have to fight for our identity and our language and our traditions. i don't know. i don't know. no, sir, i have been that channel, but i mean for me, the issue of independence was never really important to think on. it was, but for others it wasn't ex, essential needs. it's in their blood, came for them to put it on us. they don't want to be part of spain. they can't be part of span. yeah. well, that's the root of the problem for the, i guess as these people don't understand that catalonia is as much mine as theirs. we live, they have to convince me as someone who's between the yes and the know see, see, let me see, let's get the majority votes for independence. then i'll fight for a new. i mean the, i'll help to achieve it. the problem is that it won't be that easy to that you

can't achieve independence if you only have the support of 50 percent of the population that i thought that would be a disaster. and so i get and said all of this has the good summer solstice into tyranny's mountains. vote on ventura release has come back so he's fine village to celebrate in mounts and communities the soles disease celebrated with the nice of file. the tradition dates back to pagan times when people believe the fire would drive away demons under frank over the ritual was banned. and like so many of the cattle and traditions disappeared, the photos of abuse because they are running down the because you have, you had known that since childhood was not my early childhood for

a long time. it was lost as we couldn't do it. it was forbidden, it should never have been outlawed, but it's come back and today it's spectacular. we actually like that without the photo and ventura release. the 9th is also about the hope for reconciliation, savings, but on. so yes, i do have hope, and i hope that cottle on society will understand that whatever we want to achieve, we can only do it together and join the in this region of rich history and tradition. the future hangs in the balance. bridging the divide between those who support those who oppose independence is a major challenge. one that will have huge implications, both for capital lonia and all of spain, the, the,

the a pulse, the beginning of a story that takes us along for the ride. it's about the perspectives culture information. this is the, the news d, w. mines guy, i can check off brought them for you. okay mark okay, sounds good. transport is the greatest causes 3 o 2 emissions in europe. and that requires urgent action. the future

is the determines now europe revealed part 5 of our series in 75 minutes on d. w. what secrets? why behind being discovered new adventures in 360 degrees and explore fascinating world heritage sites p w world heritage 360. now the, this is the, the good news and things around top stories. turkey has agreed to back sweden's 9 tory beat, according to the hate of the military alliance. the insulting book he said to accuse president red chip typo to one, made a clear commitment to full was stuck on this application to his problem in to ratify.