Crowds clash with police in Barcelona as Catalans protest arrest of fugitive former leader Carles Puigdemont in Germany

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Crowds clash with police in Barcelona as Catalans protest arrest of fugitive former leader Carles Puigdemont in Germany. </s> BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) - Riot police briefly clashed with pro-independence Catalan protesters in Barcelona on Thursday while other activists burned tires and blocked highways across northeast Spain as part of a day of protests against the trial of 12 separatist leaders.

A total of 28 people, including twelve police officers, were wounded and four people were arrested, police said.

Near the Plaza Catalonia railway station in downtown Barcelona, police in riot gear used batons against a large group of mostly young protesters after a few of them hurled stones at the police.

One group of protesters disrupted underground city trains by sitting on tracks.

Protesters chanted “Independence, independence” and “Get out, occupation troops” in Catalan at the police.

Earlier in the day, protesters set fire to piles of tires to block some 11 highways. Police said roads had been reopened.

Members of local groups, working under the name Committees for the Defense of the Republic (CDRs), have staged periodic protests across Catalonia since separatist leaders were arrested after the Catalan parliament declared independence for the region in October 2017.

Twelve of the leaders went on trial in Madrid this month over the failed independence bid that triggered Spain’s biggest political crisis in decades.

Thursday’s protests included marches held by supporters of civil groups Omnium and the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) at midday, and a bigger march planned for the evening. The organizers also called a strike although it was not yet clear how far that was observed.

Former ANC leader Jordi Sanchez and the ex-head of Omnium, Jordi Cuixart, were in the dock on Thursday in a trial that is expected to last for at least three months.

The defendants face charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds, which they all deny.

The 2017 independence declaration, which followed a referendum conducted by Catalan authorities in defiance of a judicial ban, angered some in the region and many people in the rest of Spain.

The then conservative government in Madrid responded by imposing direct rule and then calling regional elections. The secessionists retained a slim majority in the Catalan assembly. </s> News reports says Spanish police have arrested 12 people in raids on offices of the regional government of Catalonia as a crackdown intensifies on the region's preparations for a secession vote that Spain says is illegal.

Spain's Europa Press news agency and other media outlets said the raids Wednesday mostly targeted the region's economic and foreign departments as Spanish authorities worked to halt all preparatory moves for the planned Oct. 1 referendum.

Hundreds of people gathered to protest the raids and shout pro-independence slogans outside offices in the region's capital, Barcelona.

The Catalan regional government confirmed Josep Maria Jove, secretary general of economic affairs, was among those arrested.

Police and judicial authorities would give no details on the operation, saying a judge has placed a secrecy order on it. </s> GIRONA - Catalan activist groups burned tyres and tried to block highways across northeast Spain on Thursday as part of a day of protests against the trial of 12 separatist political leaders for their part in a declaration of independence in 2017.

Eleven highways in Catalonia were affected by the protests, police reported, adding that they were working to keep traffic flowing. Police said there had been some scuffles with protesters but no major incidents were reported.

Members of local groups, working under the name Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDRs), have staged similar protests across the region ever since the arrests following the illegal declaration of secession in the Catalan parliament.

The 12 Catalan separatist leaders went on trial in Madrid last week over the failed independence bid that triggered Spain’s biggest political crisis in decades.

On Thursday, pro-independence Catalans plan to strike as part of protests which will include marches held by supporters of civil groups Omnium and the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) at midday and a bigger march in the evening.

The extent of the strike was not immediately clear while police said major roads had been reopened after initial obstructions to traffic had been removed.

Former ANC leader Jordi Sanchez and the ex-head of Omnium Jordi Cuixart are in the dock on Thursday as part of the trial which is expected to last for at least three months.

Defendants face charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds, which they all deny. </s> Spanish police entered offices of the Catalan regions economy, interior, foreign affairs, welfare, telecommunications and tax departments, on 20 September and arrested Catalonias junior economy minister. The arrest sparked thousands of pro-independence voters to gather outside Catalan regions economy ministry building. </s> BERLIN: Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is to appear in court Monday following his arrest in Germany which triggered a wave of protests in Catalonia where thousands of separatists faced off with police.

German police arrested Puigdemont on Sunday, after he crossed the border from Denmark, under a European warrant issued by Spain. The arrest comes five months after Puigdemont went on the run as Spanish prosecutors sought to charge him with sedition and rebellion in the wake of a vote by the Catalan parliament to declare independence. According to his lawyer Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, he was on his way to Belgium, where he fled after Spanish authorities moved to impose direct rule over Catalonia.

Puigdemont will be brought before a German judge Monday to confirm his identity and a court will then decide if he is to remain in custody pending extradition proceedings.

"It will take place in the course of the day, probably in the afternoon," a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office for Schleswig-Holstein state told AFP.

Calling the situation "very delicate", Alonso-Cuevillas told Catalonia's Rac1 radio it was "very likely that he will not be allowed to leave Germany".

Clashes erupted as protesters took to the streets in Catalonia on Sunday following his arrest. Catalan police decked out in riot gear shoved and hit demonstrators with batons to keep the crowd from advancing on the office of the Spanish government's representative in Barcelona, the capital of the wealthy northeastern region. Officers fired warning shots in the air to try to contain the demonstrators, who pushed large recycling containers towards police. Some people threw glass bottles, cans and eggs at police. Some 90 people were slightly injured during the protests in Barcelona, including 22 police officers, emergency services said. Another seven people were injured at a protest in Lleida, about 150 kilometres west of Barcelona and one person was injured in Tarragona to the south.

It is the latest chapter in a secession saga that has bitterly divided Catalans and triggered Spain's worst political crisis in decades.

The case lands an unwanted diplomatic hot potato in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's lap less than two weeks after her new government was sworn in. Her spokesman insisted Monday that the decision on Puigdemont's extradition rested solely in the hands of the German regional justice authorities, while Spain had the right to decide how to handle the accusations against him and the broader Catalonia issue.

"Spain is a democratic state based on the rule of law. The German government is convinced that a solution to the Catalonia conflict has to be found within Spain's legal and constitutional order," he said.

When asked whether the case would weigh on relations with Spain, Seibert responded with a simple "no".

"It angers us that they arrested Puigdemont, he is our highest representative," 22-year-old architecture student Judit Carapena told AFP at the Barcelona protest.

Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent appealed for calm in an address broadcast on regional television.

"I have no doubt that Catalan society will act as it always has, with non-violence," he said.

Aside from Puigdemont, nine other Catalan separatist leaders are in jail in Spain over the region's failed bid for independence. His arrest came two days after Spain's supreme court issued international arrest warrants for 13 Catalan separatists including Puigdemont and his nominated successor Jordi Turull. The court said they would be prosecuted for "rebellion", a charge which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

Twelve more face less serious charges like disobedience. Issuing the warrant for Puigdemont on Friday, Judge Pablo Llarena accused the ousted Catalan leader of organising an independence referendum in October last year despite a ban from Madrid.

The vote had been swiftly followed by the Catalan parliament's declaration of independence on October 27.

"It angers us that they arrested Puigdemont, he is our highest representative," 22-year-old architecture student Judit Carapena told AFP at the protest.

Spain's central government should not "sing victory because it is not the end of separatism, far from it", she added. Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent appealed for calm in an address broadcast on regional television. "I have no doubt that Catalan society will act as it always has, with non-violence," he said.

Aside from Puigdemont, nine other Catalan separatist leaders are in jail in Spain over the region's failed bid for independence. His arrest comes two days after Spain's supreme court issued international arrest warrants for 13 Catalan separatists including Puigdemont and his nominated successor Jordi Turull.

The court said they would be prosecuted for "rebellion", a charge which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Twelve more face less serious charges like disobedience. Issuing the warrant for Puigdemont on Friday, Judge Pablo Llarena accused the ousted Catalan leader of organising an independence referendum in October last year despite a ban from Madrid. The vote had been swiftly followed by the Catalan parliament's declaration of independence on October 27.

As Spanish authorities moved in to impose direct rule over the region, Puigdemont and four other separatist leaders fled to Belgium. A sixth one fled the country on Friday, reportedly to Switzerland. Hours after Puigdemont was detained in Germany, a spokesman from Police Scotland said one of them, Clara Ponsati, who has since gone to Scotland and is wanted for both rebellion and misuse of public funds, was "making arrangements" to surrender to authorities there. Puigdemont had been visiting Finland since Thursday, but slipped out of the Nordic country before Finnish police could detain him. Elsa Artadi, a lawmaker with Puigdemont's Together for Catalonia party, said that he should fight his extradition.

"Spain does not guarantee a fair trial; only revenge and repression," she wrote on Twitter.

While separatist parties won Catalonia's regional elections in December called by Madrid, they have been unable to elect a president and form a government as they have picked candidates who are now either in exile, in jail or facing prosecution. After Puigdemont was forced to withdraw his bid for the presidency as he could not return to Spain without facing arrest, another pro-independence leader Jordi Sanchez followed suit when a judge refused to let him out of jail to be sworn in. The third candidate, Turull, was placed in custody on Friday.

Fresh regional elections will be triggered if a new leader is not elected by May 22. </s> Protesters backing Catalonia's secession from Spain clashed with police and blocked roads across the northeastern region Thursday during a student and worker strike over the trial of a dozen separatist leaders.

Regional police said four people were arrested when officers met resistance while trying to clear groups of protesters who had stopped traffic. The regional emergency service said 37 people were treated for minor injuries.

Twelve officers were also injured in the clashes, according to police. Protesters threw rocks at police lines and burned tires on some highways.

Regional transportation authorities said the protests disrupted traffic on main thoroughfares in Barcelona and affected travel on a half-dozen major highways and train lines elsewhere in Catalonia.

The general strike was organized by small unions of pro-independence workers and students. On paper, they were demanding improved social policies, including a 35-hour work week and a higher minimum wage.

However, the protesters carried pro-secession flags and chanted slogans for the release of the 12 separatists who are on trial in Spain's Madrid-based Supreme Court for their roles in a 2017 independence declaration.

The major labor unions in Catalonia did not back Thursday's strike, which appeared to have a limited impact on businesses.

In Barcelona, the region's capital, students in favor of secession held a mid-day march attended by 13,000 people, according to city police.

Tens of thousands more joined an evening march behind a banner that read "Self-determination is not a crime." A grassroots pro-secession group, ANC, organized the march.

The Spanish government says regions cannot independently secede, according to the Constitution.

The 12 Catalan separatists are charged with sedition and other alleged crimes for their roles in Catalonia's failed 2017 secession attempt. Three were scheduled to testify in court on Thursday.

Their trial is in its second week and is expected to last three months.

Election results and polls indicate that Catalonia's 7.5 million residents are divided down the middle over the secession issue.

AP journalist Aritz Parra contributed to this report from Madrid.

More AP coverage of Catalonia at https://apnews.com/Catalonia </s> Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Barcelona’s Placa d’Espanya on April 15 to demand the release of Catalan leaders arrested after 2017’s failed independence referendum.Police in Barcelona said that some 315,000 people had taken part in the demonstration. Protesters came out on the streets in opposition to the pre-trial detention of independence leaders.The demonstration was organised by the National Catalan Assembly and Omnium, a Catalan cultural association. Leaders from both groups were jailed following the referendum.Former president of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont tweeted his support for the demonstration from Germany, where he was arrested last month on an international warrant. Puigdemont had been in self-imposed exile in Belgium since he was removed from office in 2017, but he was arrested when he crossed into Germany while returning to Belgium from a business trip to Finland.A German court ruled that he could not be extradited to Spain on rebellion charges but is still considering an extradition on charges of corruption. The court has ordered him to remain in Germany and check in with police weekly. Credit: Mireia Rosés via Storyful </s> Pro-independence supporters raise banners as they attend a demonstration in Barcelona Thomson Reuters BARCELONA (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Catalan independence supporters flooded the streets of Barcelona on Sunday calling for the release of jailed separatist leaders after a supreme court ruling frustrated their latest attempt to elect a regional leader. Around 350,000 demonstrators clogged several main city arteries waving flags and wearing yellow in support of separatist leaders jailed for their role in the region's banned drive to split from Spain last year.

Among the politicians facing charges of rebellion is Jordi Sanchez, the latest candidate put forward by Catalan lawmakers to become leader of the region.Supreme court judge Pablo Llarena refused last week to release him from jail and he faces up to 25 years on charges of rebellion, marking the latest of four unsuccessful attempts to elect a new leader. If a new leader is not named before the end of May, Catalonia will be forced to call another election.
Clashes between demonstrators and Catalan regional police leave three arrested and 20 injured.