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Battle scenes in Barcelona as Catalan street march descends into another night of violence
The streets of central Barcelona were again converted into battle scenes on Friday night, as small but organised groups of protesters laid burning barricades across several streets and flung missiles including smashed-up pieces of pavement.
Riot police responded with foam bullets, smoke canisters and tear gas.
The biggest battle was still raging as midnight approached in Via Laietana, a street on which the National Police has its headquarters in Barcelona.
As of 11pm disturbances in Barcelona and other cities in Catalonia had seen 17 people arrested and 62 requiring medical treatment.
Central Barcelona had earlier been brought to a standstill as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched into the city to reject a Spanish court’s decision to jail nine Catalan separatist leaders.
Barcelona’s police force said that 525,000 people joined the demonstration in response to the politicians being jailed for up to 13 years for the crime of sedition after organising October 2017's independence referendum.
A smaller parallel march organised by the radical separatist group Committees in Defence of the Republic (CDRs) also entered Barcelona on Friday, joining the otherwise generally moderate marchers.
The city saw a third night of violence on Thursday, with clashes between independence supporters and far-Right Spanish nationalist groups who held their own demonstration.
Following a protest by striking students in Barcelona at midday on Friday, several arrests were made after bottles were thrown at the city’s main National Police headquarters.
“The right to demonstrate must be exercised in a totally peaceful manner,” warned Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, speaking in Brussels, where he was attending the EU leaders’ summit. “There can be no sense of impunity for the violent acts we have seen in Catalonia.”
While the vast majority of pro-independence demonstrations have been peaceful, Spain’s security forces admit they are struggling to confront a new threat from highly coordinated radical protesters using flaming barricades.
Sources from Catalonia’s Mossos d’Esquadra police force said on Friday that despite more than 100 arrests having been made, they believe there are around 500 radicals who act as organisers, with a further 1,500 protesters ready to carry out their orders.
Spanish authorities also believe that radical anti-capitalist activists from other European countries are offering assistance to the Catalan protesters.
“We know that these groups tend to turn up at extraordinary events such as these demonstrations, with a view to using violence and making their presence felt”, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said.
Mr Grande-Marlaska added that police are still investigating who is behind the so-called Tsunami Democràtic platform, which called on independence supporters to close Barcelona’s airport on Monday via an account on the messaging service Telegram.
A judge in Madrid on Friday ordered Spanish internet and telecoms operators to block any of Tsunami Democràtic’s websites and social media accounts.
The same judge is investigating seven members of a CDR cell arrested last month and accused of preparing explosives.
Carles Puigdemont, the self-exiled former president of the region, said he did not know who was organising the platform in response to claims it was created with the knowledge of Catalan politicians.
“I know of the initiative because I myself supported it in a tweet, but I am completely unaware of who is behind it,” Mr Puigdemont said after reporting to a judge in Brussels in connection with an extradition request from Spain.
Spain’s Supreme Court has asked for Mr Puigdemont to face charges of sedition and misuse of funds after several of his former Catalan government colleagues were found guilty of those offences on Monday.
During a general strike called on Friday by pro-independence unions, protesters temporarily closed the road border with France as well as disrupting activity at Catalonia’s ports and causing 57 flights from Barcelona airport to be cancelled.
According to local government figures, around a third of public sector workers backed the strike, and the number of commuters on Barcelona’s Metro underground service was down by 50 per cent on a usual Friday morning rush hour.
Barcelona’s tourism sector is beginning to feel the effects of the protest as some 4,000 protesters managed to shut down the city’s landmark Sagrada Familia cathedral on Friday.
It was also confirmed on Friday that the Barcelona-Real Madrid La Liga match scheduled for October 26 will be played in December due to the security risk.