Protests held in Spain’s Catalonia for 6th consecutive day
People have taken to the streets in the capital of Spain’s Catalonia region on the sixth consecutive day of protests against the handing down of jail terms to Catalan independence leaders.
Catalans rallied on the streets of Barcelona on Saturday to slam prison terms for nine separatists over their role in a failed independence bid back in 2017.
The Catalan capital witnessed heavy police presence as the protests continued late into the night.
The majority of the protesters remained peaceful, staging a sit-down and shining lights from their phones. Some demonstrations lit fires and clashed with riot police, however.
The sixth night of unrest ended with the police pulling back and the protesters chanting “We won” after the police’s departure.
Protests erupted last Monday, when the Spanish Supreme Court issued heavy prison sentences of between nine and 13 years for Catalan separatist leaders convicted of “sedition” over a 2017 referendum and a short-lived declared independence by Catalonia’s former pro-independence leader Carles Puigdemont.
Barcelona saw its worst night of disturbances in decades on Friday, when masked youths blocked roads with blazing garbage cans and hurled rocks at security forces, who responded by firing repeated rounds of smoke grenades and tear gas.
Hundreds have been injured and dozens arrested in the wave of protests that have followed the Supreme Court rulings.
Puigdemont has been in self-imposed exile in Belgium since autumn 2017. Madrid has requested his extradition at least three times, and Brussels is mulling over a potential handover.
Other secessionist politicians remain in Spain, and they enjoy the support of many in the Catalonia region.
Madrid had ruled the 2017 referendum illegal.
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