Catalan separatists copy HK protest tactics
BARCELONA (AFP) — Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez faced sharp criticism on Sunday for his handling of violent Catalan separatist protests, where demonstrators have adopted tactics devised by pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
Hundreds of people packed a square in front of Catalonia’s regional government headquarters in Barcelona for a rally by the center-right, prounion Ciudadanos party.
They called on the government in Madrid to restore order in Catalonia and defend the rights of Catalans opposed to independence. Many waved Spanish, Catalan and European Union flags and chanted “Viva Espana!.”
Addressing supporters, Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera accused Spain’s caretaker Socialist government of not doing enough to stop the chaos in Barcelona, one of Europe’s tourist hotspots.
“People can’t take their children to school, they can’t open their businesses,” Barcelonaborn Rivera said.
“We need a Spanish government that protects the weak.”
Protesters use fences as a barricade during clashes near the Police headquarters in Barcelona.
Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez faced sharp criticism Sunday for his handling of violent Catalan separatist protests, where demonstrators have adopted tactics devised by pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
Hundreds of people packed a square in front of Catalonia’s regional government headquarters in Barcelona for a rally by the center-right, prounion Ciudadanos party.
They called on the government in Madrid to restore order in Catalonia and defend the rights of Catalans opposed to independence. Many waved Spanish, Catalan and European Union flags and chanted “Viva Espana!.”
During last Friday’s clashes, water cannon was deployed against demonstrators for the first time since it was bought from Israel in 1994.
Speaking at a party meeting in Toledo, central Spain, the head of the main conservative opposition Popular Party, Pablo Casado, said Spain needed “a real government, a government that leads.”
“What more must happen in Catalonia for order to be restored? That Barcelona be set ablaze? They already do it every night,” he added.
Sanchez has rejected a call for talks by separatist regional president Quim Torra until he condemns the tumult unequivocally and then builds bridges with the many Catalans who do not want secession.
Last week’s convictions of the Catalan separatist leaders has thrust the issue to the front of the political agenda ahead of Spain’s Nov. 10 general election, its fourth in as many years.
Since then, demonstrators have set fire to cars and garbage bins and thrown rocks at police, who have responded by using their batons and firing rubber bullets.
During last Friday’s clashes, water cannon was deployed against demonstrators for the first time since it was bought from Israel in 1994.
Catalan separatists are also openly copying tactics devised by pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.