The vivid red and yellow Catalan separatist flag is a familiar and colourful sight on balconies across Barcelona, though many have become faded and torn over the years. "One starts to get tired, it has been a long time and there have been few advances," said 70-year-old Josep Cuspinera at his small shop which sells pots and pans in Barcelona's strongly pro-independence Gracia district. Further north in the Nou Barris district, Barcelona's poorest and least separatist district, Rosa Martinez, 54, echoed the feeling.
