Barcelona: the separatists return to invade the streets and the fear grows for a new day of violence

After a new night of riots in BarcelonaCatalan separatists returned to mobilize for the fourth consecutive day against the condemnation of their leaders for their role in the secession attempt of 2017.

According to the government and local authorities, several routes are cut by independence marches who left Wednesday to converge this Friday in Barcelona in a massive call to "civil disobedience".

In this context, the separatist leader of Catalonia promised on Thursday to celebrate a new vote to separate from Spain In less than two years. "We can not continue in this cage that does not stop adding bars," said Quim Torrá to the legislators of the Catalan Parliament in Barcelona.

"This is the biggest blow to democracy since 1978. If we sentenced voters to one hundred years' imprisonment, the answer is clear: we will have to put them back to self-determination. ", did he declare.

Protesters also occupied the railways near Barcelona, ​​disrupting suburban train traffic, although the service was later reinstated.

Violence increased Wednesday night in the streets of Barcelona after a peaceful demonstration of thousands of people, while masked youths were confronted with police with Molotov cocktails and "objects containing acid", according to the authorities, and were even prosecuted without trial. Successfully reach a safety helicopter with pyrotechnic devices.

In the streets, we could see the traces of clashes with cars and street furniture burned. Riots also took place in other cities such as Tarragona and Lleida.

On Wednesday, 96 people had to receive medical assistance in four cities in the region, including 58 in Barcelonaannounced the health services.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, 33 people were arrested, 12 of them in Barcelona, ​​because of the violence that injured 46 national and regional police, some of them seriously.

Catalan separatists have mobilized since Monday to protest against the sentencing of nine of their leaders to terms of up to 13 years in prison for their unsuccessful attempt to free Spain from this rich region of 7, 5 million inhabitants.

For Friday, a general strike and a big demonstration in Barcelonawhere the markets that will leave five Catalan cities must converge.

Spain's Socialist President Pedro Sánchez, who has sent police reinforcements to Catalonia, will head a coordinating committee in Catalonia on Thursday before heading to Brussels to attend a Brexit summit, government sources said. .

A little more than three weeks to Legislative elections of November 10, right-wing and center-right leaders, whom Sánchez received Wednesday, ask take extraordinary measuresfor example by taking full responsibility for security in Catalonia or even intervening in their autonomy, as was the case in 2017 after the attempted secession.

"We have seen a defeated government, overwhelmed and disgraced by the situation in Catalonia, where every street is burned and where the violent bells are at ease", said the secretary general of the conservative Cope Teodoro García Egea on the radio People's Party, the main opposition.

Reiterating that the government does not rule out any action against this "significant public order problem", Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska spoke of "reasonable expectations" that violence "is not a situation that can be too extensive".

More than 48 hours after the first altercations and after being contacted by Pedro Sánchez, head of the regional government, Quim Torra, condemned the violence in a speech after midnight Wednesday.

"This must stop now.. There is no reason or justification for burning cars or for any other vandalism, "said Torra, stating that it" is normal and good "to protest" against an unfair and aberrant punishment ".

But in the Catalan Parliament this Thursday, Torra launched a difficult speech: "If, for having voted for self-determination, they condemn us to one hundred years, they will have to set up elections for self-determination" of Catalonia.

The 7.5 million inhabitants of Catalonia are strongly Split against independence. According to a survey published in July by an institute dependent on the regional executive, 44% of Catalans committed to secession, compared to 48.3% who oppose it.