Thousands of pro-autonomy Catalan protesters took to the streets of Barcelona tonight, stressing that the arrest of former Catalan President Carles Puigdemon in Germany would not stop them from gaining independence. The warmest ones clashed with the police
While the majority of those gathered were protesting peacefully, holding Catalan flags, spirits were high among those who responded to the call of the radical organization Committees for the Defense of the Republic (CDR), which favors an immediate rupture with Madrid.
Near the building where the district authorities are housed, some threw trash cans against the police who responded by repelling the crowd with globes and even with shots in the air.
In front of the European Commission building, protesters shouted "This Europe is a disgrace". Despite the efforts of Putzdemon, who settled in Brussels after the referendum on autonomy, no European Union country supported him.
Arriving outside the German consulate, some people posed for pictures of Chancellor Angela Merkel, with a Hitler mustache painted on her face. Others held placards with the phrase, in German, "Release our president, do not become complicit."
Some politicians, such as Elsa Artadi, a member of parliament close to Putzdemon, have called for calm.
"They will not achieve anything with the arrests, on the contrary. They want to bury us, but every time they strike, four new separatists are born. "They want to behead us, but we are millions," said Yolanda Sagieras, a 37-year-old protester. As he said, the demonstrations are no longer enough. "We need something more radical," he said, proposing a multi-day general strike to paralyze the country.
According to Catalan radio, CDR members blocked roads, causing traffic jams, as they had done in the recent past, in the two strikes declared in Catalonia after the incidents that took place after the referendum.
In addition to Carles Putzdemon, who was arrested in Germany after Spain issued a pan-European arrest warrant against him, nine other separatist leaders have been jailed and five have been exiled.