By video: Barcelona fans erupt at the Camp Nou over the Elche incident | Goal.com
Thousands of Catalan independence flags, "the Estelada", filled the stands of the Spotify Camp Nou during Barcelona's 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao on Thursday evening in La Liga.
The protest answered an incident last Sunday, when police assaulted a Catalan fan in Elche after snatching an independence flag from him.
Club president Joan Laporta had made the call, and huge numbers of Barcelona fans answered it. He demanded the match become an "act to raise up the Estelada", describing it as "a flag that represents many Catalans and Barça supporters".
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Several pro-independence groups backed the initiative. The flags reached their peak as Barcelona's anthem rang out over the loudspeakers at the Camp Nou.
Before kick-off, the Catalan National Assembly "ANC" handed out around 10,000 independence flags outside the Camp Nou, according to the Catalan Media Corporation.
Josep Vila, president of the Catalan National Assembly, urged fans to raise independence flags in every stadium across the country "in the face of cases of anti-Catalan hatred, xenophobia and completely unjustified violence".
He said: "The best response is to fill the stadiums with independence flags with all dignity, and not only at the Camp Nou."
On Wednesday, Barcelona scrapped a ceremony to honour their eight players crowned World Cup winners with Spain, replacing it with an event to raise up the Catalan independence flag.
That decision followed the assault on a Barcelona fan carrying the independence flag during the team's match in Elche last weekend, an incident that stirred wide political controversy in Spain.
The Spanish government opened an investigation and acknowledged a "disproportionate use of force". Barcelona confirmed on Thursday that they would provide legal cover for the fan beaten by the police.
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