Catalans protest as key leaders held
barcelona — Thousands of people took to the streets of Catalonia on Tuesday after a judge ordered the detention of two separatist leaders, further inflaming tensions over the region’s chaotic referendum on splitting from Spain.
Thousands of workers in Barcelona and other cities staged a brief walkout at noon in protest at Monday’s move by the National Court in Madrid to keep Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sanchez behind bars on sedition charges.
“Repression is not the solution,” protesters shouted as hundreds gathered outside the Catalan regional government offices in central Barcelona.
“Now anyone can be put in jail,” said Carme Guell, a 62-year-old beautician who joined the walkout as civil servants from nearby regional ministries blocked the street.
Like many who back independence for semi-autonomous Catalonia — which is profoundly divided on the issue — Guell said the wealthy northeastern region was “treated like a colony. All our money is taken away, nothing is reinvested here.”
Catalonia’s separatist government sparked Spain’s worst political crisis in decades by holding a banned independence referendum on October 1, when a violent crackdown on voters by national police shocked the world.
The prolonged uncertainty has rattled the stock markets, while nearly 700 companies have moved their legal headquarters out of Catalonia, according to official figures released Tuesday.
Further protests against the detention of Cuixart and Sanchez were planned for Tuesday afternoon in front of central government offices in Barcelona, Gerona, Tarragona and Lleida, with a candle-lit protest in Barcelona at 8pm (1800 GMT).
The pair nicknamed the “two Jordis” are the leaders of pro-independence citizens’ groups Omnium Cultural and the Catalan National Assembly respectively.
They are accused of encouraging a major protest last month as Spanish police raided the Catalan administration’s offices in the run-up to the referendum. —