108 flights cancelled after Spain’s Court decision to sentence Catalan separatists triggers violent protests
5332 Mins Read
Protests have erupted in Barcelona after Spain’s Supreme Court sentenced nine Catalan separatist leaders to between nine and 13 years in prison.
Large crowds of pro-independence protesters clashed with police at Barcelona’s international airport. Footage showed people attempting to break through a police line blocking one area of the building, while in another, officers hit protesters with batons and attempted to disperse the crowds with gas.
EL Pais reports that protesters have taken to the streets to demonstrate against the Supreme Court ruling in the case of the Catalan separatist leaders tried for their involvement in the 2017 breakaway attempt. On Monday, Spain’s top court sentenced nine Catalan separatist leaders to between nine and 13 years in prison after finding them guilty of sedition in connection with the unilateral breakaway attempt of October 2017. Oriol Junqueras, the former deputy premier of Catalonia, received the heaviest sentence: 13 years for sedition and misappropriation of public funds
A total of 108 flights were cancelled on Monday, the Spanish airport authority Aena said.
Earlier in the day, in Barcelona, three main streets were blocked by protesters holding signs calling for “Freedom for political prisoners” and a crowd chanted “We’ll do it again” – a slogan used by separatist supporters who want to hold another referendum.
Protesters blocked train and metro access to the Barcelona airport and others temporarily halted traffic on the A2 highway, as well as on several regional roads across Catalonia, officials at the road traffic agency said.
The regional train network was interrupted in the separatist stronghold of Girona by people standing on the tracks, wrapped in pro-independence flags. The Catalan independence drive attracted worldwide attention and triggered Spain’s biggest political crisis in decades and unnerved financial markets.
The ruling and its fallout is likely to colour a national election on Nov. 10, Spain’s fourth in four years, and influence the direction taken by the separatist movement.. The jailed separatists said via social media that they would carry on their fight.
