Multitudes join march
Demonstrators march into Barcelona, Spain, on Friday to protest the convictions of a dozen Catalan independence leaders. It was the fifth day of protests over the convictions, with flights into and out of the region canceled because of a strike called by pro-independence unions. More photos are available at arkansasonline.com/1019spain/.
BARCELONA, Spain — Flag-waving demonstrators demanding Catalonia’s independence and the release from prison of separatist leaders jammed downtown Barcelona on Friday as the northeastern Spanish region endured its fifth-straight day of unrest.
More than a half-million protesters, including families with children, marched in the Catalan capital, according to police. Many were clad in pro-independence “estelada” flags and shouted “Independence!” and “Freedom for political prisoners!”
Some of them had walked for three days in five large “freedom marches” from towns across the northeastern Spanish region. They converged on Barcelona, a city of 1.6 million people, and joined students and workers who also took to the streets during a 24-hour general strike.
About 400 people, roughly half of them police officers, have been injured, according to regional and central authorities, who said that 128 people have been arrested since separatist sentiment surged on Monday when the Supreme Court sentenced nine separatist politicians and activists to lengthy prison terms. The nine had led a 2017 push for independence that triggered Spain’s deepest political crisis in decades.
Over the past week, demonstrations in support of those sentenced have at times turned violent, with some protesters and riot police fighting running battles.
But on Friday, the demonstrations were mostly peaceful, though police clashed with a few hundred young protesters who hurled bottles, eggs and paint at the gates of the police headquarters in the city’s center. Large trash containers were burned before police, using rubber bullets and tear gas, dispersed the crowds.
Albert Ramon, a 43-year-old public servant attending a Friday rally in the northern city of Girona, said the convictions — including fines for three more separatists — had soured the political climate.
“These verdicts violate fundamental rights and hence people are reacting,” Ramon said.
Spanish authorities suspect a secretive new group called Tsunami Democratic is using encrypted messages to orchestrate some of the attacks, which have included torched cars and burning barricades in the streets.
The group appeared on Sept. 2 and in just over six weeks has gained nearly 340,000 followers on its main channel in Telegram, a messaging app.
On Friday, a National Court judge ordered the closure of websites linked to the group.
Rights group Amnesty International called on “all authorities” to refrain from contributing to the escalation of tensions in the streets and to respond “proportionally” to outbreaks of violence.
The group said in a statement that it had observed “various cases” of ”excessive” use of police force, “including inappropriate and unjustified use of batons and other defensive equipment against people who posed no risk.”
But interim Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska defended the police action as “proportionate” and warned Catalan separatists that Spain will apply the criminal code “with all its force,” threatening them with prison terms of up to six years.
Tourists also felt the turmoil. At least two large cruise operators diverted their ships to other ports, and those which had already docked in the port of Barcelona canceled their passengers’ excursions to the city. Architect Antoni Gaudí’s modernist Sagrada Familia also closed its doors due to a protest blocking access to the basilica.
Dozens of flights into and out of the region were canceled due to the strike called by pro-independence unions. Picketers also blocked roads to the border with France and elsewhere.
Commuter and long-distance train services were significantly reduced, and many shops and factories didn’t open.
Pedro Sanchez, Spain’s interim prime minister, said authorities would prosecute radicals who rioted this week while ensuring that peaceful protests can continue.
“Those who break the law have to answer for their deeds sooner or later,” Sanchez told a press conference in Brussels, where he was attending a European Union summit.
Sanchez faces a general election in less than a month, and the tensions in Catalonia are a test of his political skills.
The former head of the Catalan government, Carles Puigdemont, on Friday avoided being jailed after he voluntarily testified before Belgian judicial authorities over a new warrant that Spain issued this week following the Supreme Court sentences.