CATALONIA PROTESTS
Spanish separatist movement grows; hundreds arrested
Marches, strikes rattle downtown Barcelona.
BARCELONA, Spain — Masses of 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 local police. Many were clad in pro-independence “estelada” flags and shouted “Independence!” and “Freedom for political prisoners!”
Some had walked for three days in five massive “freedom marches” from towns across the region. They converged on Barcelona, a city of 1.6 million people, and joined students and workers who took to the streets during a 24-hour general strike.
More than 200 people have been injured and nearly 100 arrested since separatist sentiment surged on Monday, when the Supreme Court sentenced to lengthy prison terms nine separatist politicians and activists. The nine had led a 2017 push for independence that triggered Spain’s deepest political crisis in decades.
This week’s huge show of support at times turned violent, with some protesters and riot police fighting running battles.
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 center. Large trash containers were burned before police shot rubber bullets to disperse the crowds.
Albert Ramon, a 43-yearold public servant joining 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,” Mr. Ramon said.
The separatist movement is proud of its history of mostly peaceful campaigning. Officials have accused a relatively small number of agitators of provoking the recent riots.
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 has since gained nearly 340,000 followers on its main channel in messaging app Telegram.
A National Court judge on Friday 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.
Spain’s Football Federation postponed the match between archrival clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona scheduled for Oct. 26 due to the unrest. “El Clasico,” considered one of the biggest rivalries in all of sports, will be held in December instead, the federation said.