Demonstrations and blockades over independence leaders’ trial

Thousands of people took to the streets yesterday in protest at the beginning of the trial of the pro-independence leaders. Some were answering the call for organised demonstrations, while there were also road blocks by CDRs (Comités de Defensa de la República, or Republican Defence Committees), student protests and sit-downs in front of the Public Prosecutor’s office in Barcelona. This is the prelude to days and weeks of demonstrations that will culminate with the mass demonstration in the Catalan capital on Saturday, the general strike on Wednesday 21 and another large-scale demonstration, the first by the pro-sovereignty movement in Madrid, on March 16.

The mobilisation had begun early in the morning, when the CDRs cut off various sections of urban and intercity roads. Groups of demonstrators cut off the AP-7 motorway and the Eix Transversal and caused retentions with demonstrations in the road in two points of the Catalan capital: Diagonal and Plaça de les Glòries. With tyres being burnt at the Hostalric junction of the AP-7, there were retentions of up to three kilometres. On the N-260, at La Seu d’Urgell, a march along the road also affected traffic.

There were also demonstrations by students and professors at the URV and UAB campuses.