IN-PICTURES: Defiant Catalonia stages march against ISIS attack in Barcelona

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Hundreds of thousands of people in Barcelona staged a march in the Catalan city of Barcelona Saturday in defiance of the ISIS-claimed attack last week.

Spain’s King King Felipe VI, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and the President of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont joined the crowd side by side.

Many of the people held placards reading “We are not afraid.”

The attack that happened on August 17 left 15 people dead and approximately 100 more injured.

The Catalan region is scheduled to hold an independence referendum on October 1, a vote strongly opposed by the Spanish government.

PM Rajoy had called on the nation to take part in the march to show that Catalonians and the rest of the nation are “united against terror.”

The independence vote in Catalonia is preceded by the Kurdish vote on independence set to take place on September 25, also opposed by the central government in Iraq.

Following the ISIS attack in Barcelona, Kurdish President Masoud Barzani condemned the “terrorist attack” in the strongest terms, expressing condolences to the families of those who lost their loved ones, and wishing recovery for the injured.

“The people of Kurdistan who themselves are the victim of terror and are at the forefront in the fight against terror consider themselves sympathetic to Barcelona city,” the statement by the Kurdish presidency read.

Photos by AFP/Lluis Gene

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