More than 700 children fill Sant Jaume to demand their right to a family in Barcelona

Hundreds of schoolchildren have taken over plaça Sant Jaume to defend the right to grow up in a safe and loving family environment. The event marks the start of the Festes de Santa Eulàlia 2026. Family diversity and children’s participation are the protagonists of the event.

This year, plaça Sant Jaume has vibrated with the energy of almost 720 primary-school boys and girls, who have turned the Pregó dels Infants into a collective call for the right to have a family. The event, which opens the Festes de Santa Eulàlia 2026, has put at its heart the importance of every minor being able to count on a family environment offering affection, protection and shared time.

Under the motto «Barcelona, ciutat de famílies», pupils from 24 educational centres have worked for months to produce a manifesto asserting the need to feel heard and cared for at home. The public reading of the proclamation brought together municipal representatives, including mayor Jaume Collboni, who received the children at City Hall before the central event.

This year’s message has gone beyond the traditional family, underlining the diversity of family models present in the city. Participants have insisted that living in a family is a universal right and have asked for more quality time with their loved ones, away from screens and close to the looks that matter.

The educational programme of the Pregó dels Infants has led the children to analyse the reality of their neighbourhoods, visit municipal facilities and share proposals with councillors in their districts. This experience seeks to help the youngest get to know the institutions first-hand and begin active civic participation, understanding their role in building the Barcelona of the future.

Since its first edition in 2004, the Pregó dels Infants has involved more than 12,000 pupils, establishing itself as a key event for promoting children’s rights and recognising children as citizens with full rights. The 2026 edition reinforces the city’s commitment to shared responsibility and actively listening to new generations.

The Pregó dels Infants is not only a symbolic event: it is a real opportunity for Barcelona’s children to feel part of public life and learn to defend their rights from childhood. Plaça Sant Jaume, once again, has become the stage where the voice of the youngest sets the city’s pulse.

The Pregó dels Infants has become one of Barcelona’s most distinctive participatory initiatives. Every year, the process involves months of classroom work, in which children debate, research and draft proposals on issues that affect them directly. This dynamic fosters critical thinking and shared responsibility, and brings schoolchildren closer to the city’s institutional reality. The result is a collective manifesto which, read in a space as emblematic as Sant Jaume, reinforces the idea that childhood has much to contribute to Barcelona’s present and future.