Catalan businesses join street protesters in pro-Spain message

Already battered by a corporate stampede to exit the region, the Catalan president is struggling to maintain support

Catalan business executives stepped up their push to defuse a separatist movement as thousands gathered in Barcelona on Sunday to demand the region stay in Spain.
 
Chairman Juan Jose Brugera led a delegation from Cercle d’Economia, a business forum, that met with Catalan President Carles Puigdemont on Saturday in Girona to demand he withdraw his threat to declare a Catalan republic, said Jordi Alberich, the group’s director general. The Cercle’s board includes CaixaBank  Chairman Jordi Gual and Jaime Guardiola, chief executive officer of Banco Sabadell.
 
“We asked him to directly remove the shadow of a declaration by saying