Two hundred thousand people, some of them with candles in hand, demonstrated on Tuesday evening in Barcelona. The protest is against Monday's arrest of two activists in the struggle for independence of Catalonia, AFP reports. The data on the number people participating in the event is from the municipal police.

"Independence," chanted the crowd, demanding the release of Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sanchez, leaders in the Catalan Parliament of the two major separatist organizations accused of anti-state activity, bTV reported.

Although Catalan society is divided almost equally on the issue of independence, the separatists believe that their cause is legitimized by a referendum banned by central government on 1 October. They claim they won it with 90% of the vote at 43% voter turnout.

The peaceful demonstrations were attended by thousands of Catalans in other cities in the region on Tuesday night.

Earlier today, the Spanish Constitutional Court declared invalid the law on the referendum, which was adopted by the Catalan authorities, according to which the independence vote was held.

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