Barcelona: Serious incidents in a new demonstration for the condemnation of secessionists

The demonstration, called by secessionist organizations and referents to reject the prison sentence announced yesterday against the Catalan leaders who led the failed declaration of independence in 2017, lasted two hours in peace.

A few minutes before the end of the deconcentration, the national police started moving forward and pushing.

The entire area was fenced and the crowd of several hundred thousand protesters was stuck against each other. For that, when the police started pushing with their shields, there were falls, screams and fear of an avalanche.

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In the midst of this chaos, a group of hooded youths started breaking down barriers and launching them with stone, to the security forces that sealed the corner of Paseo de Gracia and Mallorca streets, a few blocks from the Spanish central government headquarters.

The police fired back with sticks and rubber bullets, reinforcing the conflictual violence.

In just half an hour, the Paseo de Gracia had become a pandemonium, with four or five barricades and garbage cans on fire.

Most of the protesters agreed to leave, although some groups remained and restarted isolated clashes with the security forces.

By nightfall, the region was still dominated by more than 30 police trucks and, according to El Mundo newspaper, at least three protesters were arrested.

Catalonia, and Barcelona in particular, has been at the center of one of the most important institutional and political conflicts in Spain in recent years.

However, the city had not experienced moments of repression and confrontation as strong as today, especially at the hands of the national police and not the local security forces.

The last time that a similar situation was experienced and such a clear confrontation with the national security forces took place during the general strike against the Zapatero government, 11 years ago.