Catalans take to streets

HUNDREDS of thousands of people backing Catalonia’s bid to secede from Spain have packed the streets in downtown Barcelona to demand the release of jailed separatist leaders.

The rally’s grassroots organisers called for 10 prominent members of the secessionist movement in the northeastern Spanish region to be freed from prison.

Eight former members of Catalonia’s dissolved Cabinet and two activists are in jail while Spanish authorities investigate their alleged roles in promoting an illegal declaration of independence.