In Spain, about a million people took to the streets of Barcelona yesterday to mark Catalonia’s National Day and showed continued support for independence. The annual celebration is the first since Catalonia’s failed attempt to break away from Spain last October.

A sea of protesters wearing red shirts and bearing red-and-yellow Catalan flags banged drums, blew whistles and chanted slogans of support.

The huge turnout was a response to a call from Catalan regional president Quim Torra and his predecessor Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Brussels last October after Madrid dismissed his government, to show continued support for independence from Spain.