Who are the people from Biafra who joined Catalonia’s National Day?

Three stripes, red, black and green, with a rising sun in the middle. It is an unknown  flag for most Catalans but it was the one carried by a group of demonstrators of African origin on Sunday during the events of Catalonia’s National Day in Barcelona. It corresponds to Biafra, a region under the control of Nigeria that became independent in 1967. A bloody war, in which more than a million people died, put an end to the independence of Biafra in 1970.

On Sunday, as they did in previous years, a group of Biafra independence supporters joined the events of the day to show their solidarity. In the morning they went to the floral offerings at Fossar de les Moreres and in the afternoon they joined the massive pro-independence demonstration organized by the ANC, where they wore T-shirts, hats and Biafran flags. They are followers of the Movement of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), founded in 2014 by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, a political activist who is held under arrest and being judged at present in Nigeria.

IPOB LEADERSHIP DOS REPRESENTATIVE AT THE EVENT IN RESPECT & HONOURING THOSE OF THE #CATALONIA FALLEN HEROES FREEDOM FIGHTERS AND ALSO BIAFRANS WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES IN CAUSE OF THE FREEDOM OF THEIR PEOPLE AT CATALONIA INDEPENDENT DAY.@Catalonia_EU @UN @real_IpobDOS #Biafra pic.twitter.com/8YiY9l8GJ6

— Isaiah Uba Official (@MaziUbaOfficial) September 13, 2022