Several thousand people demonstrated in Barcelona on Saturday against the proposed EU constitution which Spanish voters are to vote on in a referendum next weekend.

Those attending the city-centre demonstration, a day after Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero visited Barcelona alongside French President Jacques Chirac to campaign for a "yes" vote on February 20, called for a "no" vote "in defence of social rights and peoples' rights."

The protest was organised by the pressure group "Catalan campaign against the European Constitution."

Organisers said around 10,000 people marched, whereas police put the figure nearer 3,000.

One demonstrator, communist Juan Camarasa, told AFP the protesters were not opposed to Europe but to the proposed text "as it has been drawn up, by right-wing governments."

The protest had been designed to attract supporters of some 80 organisations, including political parties, unions and immigrant associations.

Among those present were members of the Republican Left (ERC), a party in the coalition making up the Catalan regional government, as well as members of an immigrants collective, many of them Pakistanis.

Opinion polls show only around 10 percent of voters expressing an opinion will vote against the proposed constitution. Although the "yes" camp has a clear lead, one poll Saturday suggested a majority of Spaniards will not vote.