Spain: 5 hurt, 7 arrested during protests in Barcelona

MADRID

At least five Spanish protestors were injured and seven others arrested on Saturday in Barcelona during demonstrations, according to local police.

Gathering against the far-right Vox Party’s demonstration under the title of “Spain for Catalonia,” some anti-fascist and separatist Catalan groups took to the streets and clashed with the police, which tried to disperse them.

Meanwhile, Vox leader Santiago Abascal has pledged that if his party won the snap elections on April 28, they will freeze the autonomous Catalonia administration and link it to the central government, annul the Catalan police force (Mossos d’Esquadra) and apply to prosecutors for arrest of Catalan President Quim Torra.

Around 5,000 Vox members attended the demonstration in Barcelona, which is among the cities where the Vox is weak.

In early February, the Spanish government released a text of the 21-article roadmap, which was first proposed by Catalan President Quim Torra to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Dec. 20.

Entitled “A state pact to resolve the conflict between Spain and Catalonia", the document touched on international mediation efforts and calls for negotiations between the Spanish and Catalan governments “on an equal footing”.

Spain dissolved the Catalan parliament after the Catalan government held an illegal referendum on independence in October 2017.

Shortly afterward, then Spanish Premier Mariano Rajoy implemented Article 155 of Spain’s constitution, which allows Madrid to intervene in the internal affairs of the country’s autonomous regions.

Ousted Catalan President Carles Puigdemont then fled Spain to Belgium before being briefly held in Germany for 12 days under an EU arrest warrant.

He returned to Brussels after his release, where he has been living in exile ever since.

* Writing by Sena Guler