Catalan separatists block roads in protest at Puigdemont detention

World
Europe

Spanish riot police broke up a blockade by Catalan separatists on major motorways in Catalonia on Tuesday, part of a wave of protests over the arrest and detention of ex-regional president Carles Puigdemont.

Television images showed riot police surrounding protesters who had sat down in the middle of motorway AP-7, which links Spain to neighboring France.

Police removed the protesters one by one facing a chorus of boos from the pro-Catalan independence activists.

But on Tuesday evening two other roads were blocked around the northeast Spanish region, according to Catalonia's traffic authority, while hundreds of people protested near Barcelona's main Sants trains station.

People hold banners and wave Catalan flags as they take part in a protest march of Catalan supporters in front of the European Commission's headquarters, in Brussels, March 25, 2018. /VCG Photo

They had planned to surround the station but access to it was blocked by riot police.

"After the arrest of Puigdemont, we could not stay home," said Daniel Larrotcha, 34-year-old computer programmer.

The demonstration was called by the radical Committees for the Defense of the Republic (CDR), set up just before Catalonia held an independence referendum on October 1 that was banned by the courts.

"With the latest incarcerations and the arrest of president Carles Puigdemont, it clearly seems that we have crossed the point of no return," the CDR announced in a statement on Monday following mass demonstrations the day before.

Source(s): AFP