The mobilization, called by the Spanish Confederation of Self-Employed Professionals (CEPA) and the Platform for the Dignity of the Self-Employed 30N, marched through the city center from the Jardinets de Gràcia to Plaça de Sant Jaume, in front of the headquarters of the Generalitat and the City Council.
Protesters expressed their discontent with slogans and banners under mottos such as 'self-employed at the limit', 'suffocated self-employed', or 'less taxes and more aid', demanding a regulatory framework 'adapted to reality' and a 'profound reform' of the system.
“"We denounce the suffocation and neglect that we self-employed workers suffer, as well as the plundering through taxes like income tax or VAT and the numerous bureaucratic hurdles."
According to the organizers, the self-employed face 'maximum precariousness' and 'lack of rights' in the labor, fiscal, and bureaucratic spheres, in addition to high levels of stress, anxiety, and conciliation problems.
The protest in Barcelona took place simultaneously with 22 other demonstrations across Spain, highlighting the widespread concern within the collective.
