Topic - Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,535,251. Its borders essentially reflect those of the former Principality of Catalonia. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the east (580 km coastline). The official languages are Catalan, Spanish and Aranese (Occitan). - Source: Wikipedia

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Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) candidate in the upcoming Catalan elections Salvador Illa, reads notes ahead of an interview at his party headquarter in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, Feb. 8, 2021. A former health minister of Spain hopes to become a quiet political disruptor in the country's Catalonia region when voters go to the polls next weekend. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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Bathers enjoy the beach in Cadiz, south of Spain, on Friday, July 24, 2020. With the coronavirus rebounding in parts of Spain, it appears that several regions have not adequately prepared to trace new infections in what was supposed to be an early detection system to prevent a new cascade of cases. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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Customers wearing face masks buy sandals at a market in Barcelona on Wednesday, July 8, 2020. Spain's northeastern Catalonia region will make mandatory the use of face masks outdoors even when social distancing can be maintained, regional chief Quim Torra announced Wednesday. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, left, shakes hands with Catalan regional President Quim Torra at the Palace of the Generalitat, the headquarter of the Government of Catalonia, in Barcelona, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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Catalan politician Oriol Junqueras, centre, arrives at the Parliament of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020. The imprisoned leader of the Catalan separatist ERC party Oriol Junqueras and five other former regional Cabinet members who pushed ahead with an illegal independence declaration for Catalonia in 2017 are brought out of prison for the first time to testify at a regional parliamentary committee. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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FILE - In this Monday, May 20, 2019 file photo, the leader of the Catalonian ERC party Oriol Junqueras leaves after collecting his credentials at the Spanish parliament in Madrid, Spain. A legal adviser at the EU's highest court said on Tuesday Nov. 12, 2019, that it should be down to the European Parliament, and not to Spain, to decide whether jailed Catalan leader Oriol Junqueras can serve as a European lawmaker. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

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Catalan regional president Quim Torra, centre, arrives at the Catalonia's high court in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, Nov.18, 2019. Catalan President Quim Torra attends to a trial court in Barcelona on charges of disobedience over a political poster hung from the Catalan Government building during the general election campaign in March. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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Catalan regional president Quim Torra walks at the Palace of the Generalitat, the headquarters of the Government of Catalonia, ahead of an interview with The Associated Press in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, Oct. 21, 2019. The leader of Catalonia says that the massive protests that have often spiraled into violent clashes with police this week won't cease until the Spanish government accepts to listen to separatists' demands. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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A protestors raises his fist at police across a burning barricade during clashes between protestors and police in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019. Thousands of Catalan separatists are protesting for a second straight day over the Spanish court ruling that imprisoned nine independence leaders and the conviction of three others. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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Pro-independence demonstrators, some of them holding flares, march as they take part in a demonstration in Girona, Spain, Tuesday Oct. 1, 2019. A few hundred Catalan secession supporters are marching in the northeastern city of Girona to mark two years since a banned independence referendum that shook Spanish politics. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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FILE - In this file photo dated Monday, May 20, 2019, the leader of the Catalonian ERC party Oriol Junqueras leaves after collecting his credentials at the Spanish parliament in Madrid, Spain. Spain’s Supreme Court on Friday June 14, 2019, denied a request by a Catalan separatist leader Junqueras to leave jail so he can become a European Parliament member after being elected last month.(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, FILE)

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Demonstrators hold banners and Spanish flags during a protest in Madrid, Spain, on Sunday, Feb.10, 2019. Thousands of Spaniards in Madrid are joining a rally called by right-wing political parties to demand that Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez step down. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

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Demonstrators hold esteladas, or independence flags, as they gather in support of the imprisoned Catalan politicians outside the Brians II prison, in Barcelona, Spain, Friday, Feb.1, 2019. Spanish authorities transferred nine politicians and activists on Friday from prisons in Catalonia to the country's capital, Madrid, ahead of a high-stakes trial for their part in an attempt to secede from Spain. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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FILE - In this Nov. 2, 2017, file photo, the sacked Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras arrives at the National Court for questioning by a National Court judge investigating possible rebellion charges, in Madrid, Spain. Spanish prosecutors on Friday Nov. 2, 2018 are requesting for Junqueras to be imprisoned for 25 years on rebellion charges, the highest prison term in indictments issued for separatist leaders who pushed for Catalan independence last year. (AP Photo/Paul White, File)

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Catalan police officers cordon off the street to stop pro independence demonstrators on their way to meet demonstrations by members and supporters of National Police and Guardia Civil, as coloured powder is seen thrown by protesters, in Barcelona on Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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