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Meet The Catalans Who Drove To Scotland To Support The Independence Campaign

They said 300 of them would be out in force in Edinburgh tomorrow. They're hoping to do a traditional Catalan dance in the castle.

There was a massive rally going on in Glasgow for the Yes campaign on Wednesday.

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It looked like a purely Scottish event. People were singing, dancing, and proudly waving their flags.

Siraj Datoo / BuzzFeed News

But right in the middle of it all were 10 guys who had travelled to Glasgow from the Spanish region of Catalonia. A bunch of them spent two days driving up in two cars and on a motorbike adorned in Catalan colours.

Siraj Datoo / BuzzFeed News

Suddenly they were famous. Everyone wanted to take pictures of this car parked in the middle of the rally.

Seriously.

And all these people were giving their support to the Catalans. "You should become independent too!" one of the Scots shouts.

Lluis Riera, 40, said the Scottish campaign is inspiring Catalonian activists back in Spain. "If you open one door," he said, "you will find an entrance for more nations."

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He said: "For the first time in many years, this is a unique democratic event in Europe, without any war. How fantastic is that?

"People in Catalan want to vote but they just don't have a chance. It's a sad time for democracy."

Then there's 39-year-old Roger Vernis, who took turns driving one of the cars. How was that journey? It was great, he said. (It had also started to smell, he added hesitantly).

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But Vernis said that, unlike Scotland, "there's a sinister path" in Catalonia, and those in the region were taking hope from what was happening in the UK.

"This vote right here is a demonstration that a big part of a country can separate and still be a proper country in its own right," he said.

So what's next? "In the short term, we're hoping there will be 300 people from Catalan here tomorrow, where we'll meet other activists and help get out the vote. In the longer term, we need to campaign to other countries to recognise Catalan. We really want to convince people that the power should be in the polling stations."

But eventually, the Catalans' 15 minutes of fame were over as a new shiny thing came into the frame and everyone rushed to take pictures of a woman with a fox mask on. Still, they were planning on doing a traditional Catalan dance in Edinburgh tomorrow.

Siraj Datoo / BuzzFeed News