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Barcelona, Spain – The police clashed with Catalan separatists in central Barcelona on Saturday, as tensions mounted before the anniversary of the illegal referendum on the secession of the Spanish region, which ended. by violent raids carried out by the security forces.
Separatists threw and sprayed colored powder on the local police, filling the air with a thick cloud and covering riot shields, police vans and the sidewalk of a boulevard. downtown in a panoply of bright colors. Some protesters also launched projectiles and engaged in the police line, which used batons to restrain them.
The clashes broke out after the local Catalan police intervened to form a barrier when a separatist threw purple paint on a man in another march of support to the Spanish police demanding an increase of salary. Officers used batons to fend off oncoming separatists and separate opposing groups.
"I call for calm, this city has always defended that everyone can exercise their rights to freedom of expression," Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau told Catalunya Radio.
More and more separatists filled a square in downtown Barcelona last night to force the regional government to change the course of the march of supporters of the Spanish police. Those who supported the Spanish police instead walked to another square in the city center.
The march was organized by the JUSAPOL police association, which wants the two national police forces of Spain, the national police and the civil guard, to be remunerated in the same way as the regional police of Catalonia.
JUSAPOL is organizing parades in Spanish cities, but Saturday's march in Barcelona comes two days before Catalan separatists plan to remember the referendum held last year on secession by the regional government despite the ban. pronounced by the highest court of the country.
The October 1 referendum was tainted by clashes between voters in the National Police and the Civil Guard, leaving hundreds injured.
JUSAPOL spokesman Antonio Vazquez told Catalan television TV3 that the purpose of the march was to demand better salaries, but also to support the national police and the officers of the Civil Guard to whom he had been ordered to dismantle the referendum of last year.
"The agents of the National Police and the Civil Guard who acted last year were doing their duty and now they are under pressure and we must support them," said Vazquez.
Last year's police operation, which failed to prevent the referendum, has become a rallying call for separatists in Catalonia, who argue that this is proof that Spain has mistreated the rich region that enjoys a large degree of autonomy.
Vidal Aragones, deputy of the far-left party VUP Aragones, described the march of the police as "insulting the Catalan people".
"This is not acceptable," said Aragones. "They came here to remember the violence that they used."
Two weeks ago, the police had to intervene to separate two separate gatherings of Catalan separatists and Spanish trade unionists in Barcelona, the capital of the region.
The Catalan government led by the separatists is asking the central Spanish authorities to authorize a binding vote on secession.
Polls and recent elections show that the 7.5 million people in the region are about equally divided by the issue of secession.
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AP video journalist Renata Brito contributed to this report.
