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ARCHIVED - 72 police officers injured as violence marks separatist protests in Catalunya
Allegations of rubber bullets being fired by police as a protester loses an eye at Barcelona airport
The second day of mass protests and disruption in Catalunya on Tuesday, following the publication of guilty verdicts and prison sentences of between 9 and 13 years for 9 separatist leaders for their part in the partial holding of an outlawed independence referendum on 1st October 2017, ended with violent scenes in the streets, a total of 72 police officers injured and at least 30 arrests as well as the destruction of public property in Barcelona and other major cities.
The demonstrations on Tuesday began peacefully with sit-down protests in the Gran Vía and the resulting disruption of road traffic, but the atmosphere changed as the day wore on. Separatists gathered outside the central delegation to Catalunya in the Paseo de Gracia, where the Mossos d’Esquadra (the regional police force) were protecting the building behind metal fencing, but firecrackers were soon thrown and kicks were directed at the police, who charged the demonstrators to repel them.
Once again both the police and protesters are keen to establish that the clashes are being provoked by the “other side”, and in this context the demonstrators are highlighting the case of a young man who lost an eye after being hit by a rubber projectile fired at the demonstrators who overran Barcelona-El Prat airport on Monday. According to the Hospital del Bellvitge the injury he sustained is compatible with what would be caused by “a rubber ball”, leading to allegations that rubber bullets (rather than foam capsules) were fired by anti-riot police: the Mossos d’Esquadra have been forbidden from using rubber bullets since 2014.
At least 157 barricades were erected and set fire to by the protesters as night fell on Tuesday, and it appears abundantly clear that the situation in Barcelona and other provincial capitals in Catalunya (Girona, Lleida and, to a lesser extent, Tarragona) is as tense as it has been at any point since the events of two years ago. Those came to a head on 27th October 2017 when a unilateral declaration of independence from Spain in the regional parliament was followed almost immediately by the imposition of direct rule by the Spanish government in Madrid, and the national government is now once again considering either a similar invocation of Article 155 of the Constitution or using the National Security Law to increase policing in the region still further.
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