Tens of thousands of people are joining marches across Barcelona in protest against the Spanish government’s actions over the region’s independence vote.
Separatist groups and unions had initially called for strikes to be held on Tuesday in support of Catalan leaders pushing ahead with a declaration of independence from Spain. But many non-separatists were also drawn to the streets following a crackdown on a referendum vote on Sunday.
The main national unions, CCOO and UGT, rejected the strike but told workers to join protests.
Protesters during a one-day strike in Barcelona (Bob Edme/AP)
In Barcelona’s Catalonia and University squares, a sea of demonstrators waved flags, most of them “esteladas,” embraced by those seeking secession, but there were also plenty of Spanish national flags.
Among many banners displayed, one read “Stop violence, #CataloniaIsComing” and another one wondered “Where are you Europe?”
One of the biggest groups concentrated around the Spanish national police headquarters in Barcelona, where protesters called them “occupying forces” and called for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to resign.
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 2, 2017
Earlier Barcelona’s football stars were among workers in Catalonia to down tools.
The club said none of its professional or youth teams were training and the club base was closed.
Girona’s team also did not train while Espanyol’s players underwent physical exercises behind closed doors.
PUBLIC APPEAL OF RCD ESPANYOL DE BARCELONA.
Social peace for Catalonia!
Long live the sport!
Visca l'Espanyol! #RCDE pic.twitter.com/Fe0OR15U8w— RCD Espanyol (@RCDEspanyol) October 3, 2017
Barcelona defender Gerard Pique, one of the most outspoken supporters of Catalonia, was harassed by fans on Monday when he reported to Spain’s national team training camp in Madrid ahead of upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
Several hundred Barcelona port workers held a demonstration outside the regional headquarters of Spain’s ruling Popular Party chanting slogans against government policies and the alleged brutality of police during Sunday’s polling day.
The port workers threw wads of unused ballot papers from the vote into the air in the protest outside the party’s office in Barcelona.
Pro-independence supporter and Barcelona defender Gerard Pique was harassed by Spain fans when he turned up for training with the national team in Madrid (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP)
Regional police placed barriers outside the building to stop the crowd getting near the offices and the protest lasted more than an hour.
Madrid’s top official in Catalonia said he lamented the violence but blamed the regional separatist government for “exposing citizens to danger”.
Enric Millo said on Tuesday “nothing of this would have happened if the government wouldn’t have declared itself in rebellion, breaking the orders of the courts and lying and tricking people”.
He said Spain’s National Police and Civil Guard anti-riot squads broke into schools designated as polling stations when it was clear that the regional Mossos d’Esquadra police, controlled by the Catalan government, was not carrying out a judge’s orders to impede the voting.
He also accused the grassroots groups driving the independence bid, the National Catalan Assembly and Omnium Cultural, and pro-independence mayors of “plotting to break the law”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here