More arrests in Catalan disturbances as minister warns of heavy sentences

The Catalan regional police force (Mossos d'Esquadra) confirmed they have made 54 arrests after another night of violence in the Catalan region of Spain following the fifth day of protest against the sentences handed to Catalan separatist leaders by the Supreme Court.

Police take position on the fifth day of protests over the conviction of a dozen Catalan independence leaders in Barcelona, Spain, Friday, October 18, 2019. [Photo: IC]

The violence involved mostly an estimated 400 radical "anti-system" protestors in Barcelona on the central Via Laietana street, near the headquarters of the Spanish National Police and in the neighboring Placa Urquinaona. Demonstrators threw rocks and bottles at police, who responded with rubber bullets, teargas and a series of baton charges.

At least seven police officers were injured with one suffering "serious injuries," according to acting Spanish Home Affairs Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who addressed the press Friday night in Madrid.

Grande-Marlaska warned of heavy sentences of up to six years in prison for those arrested, saying the government was "going to apply the penal code with all of its strength against the violent separatism which attacks the law."

The minister also informed that before Friday night's violence, 128 people had been detained for violent protests with nine remanded in custody, while around 800 rubbish containers had been burned by protesters and over 100 police vehicles damaged.

The violence came at the end of a day affected by a general strike Friday in the Catalan region, which caused 57 flights to be cancelled from Barcelona's El Prat airport and cruise ships to be turned away from the port of Barcelona.

Most shops and public buildings in the region were closed, while rail services were affected and some roads cut by demonstrators, although Grande-Marlaska insisted that the number of people following the call to strike was "below what was expected" by the organizers.

Friday also saw 525,000 people -- according to estimates by the Barcelona city police -- take part in a peaceful demonstration in Barcelona.