Catalonia clashes continue into third day
BARCELONA: After another night of clashes in Catalonia which left nearly 100 people injured according to emergency services, activists again blocked roads yesterday in the northeastern region of Spain.
For the third night running, protesters clashed violently with riot police in the Catalan capital on Wednesday night, torching cars and garbage bins, as they expressed their fury over the sentencing of nine Catalan separatist leaders to long jail terms over their role in a failed independence bid.
Emergency services said 58 people were injured in Barcelona, including a 17-year-old who was hit by a police van. Another 38 people were injured in protests in other Catalan cities.
Police arrested 33 people across the region, including 12 in Barcelona which recorded the most violent protests.
Several roads were blocked across Catalonia yesterday due to marches which departed from five Catalan towns the day before heading for Barcelona, local officials said.
The marchers plan to converge in Barcelona today when unions have called a general strike in the region.
The violence erupted on Monday just hours after Spain’s Supreme Court handed down the prison sentences to nine Catalan leaders for their role in the failed independence bid in 2017.
Catalonia’s pro-independence regional chief Quim Torra said yesterday he aims for the region to be independent from Spain by the end of 2021 if Catalan parties agree to it.
Addressing the regional parliament, he also said he wanted a proposal for a “Catalan republic” to be ready by the spring of next year. Mr Torra previously said a new vote would have to be held to decide on self-determination for Catalonia.
The regional parliament’s term expires in December 2021. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told Telecinco TV yesterday that the government will send more police to Catalonia, adding that this was both to guarantee security and to allow police already there to rest.