Catalan president, Quim Torra, has insisted on a new independence vote for Catalonia, after he called for an end to the violent protests, which brought Barcelona to its knees over the past few days.

Quim Torra calls new vote

“This has to stop right now,” Torra said in a televised address on Wednesday. “There is no reason or justification for burning cars, nor any other vandalism. Protest should be peaceful.

“We cannot allow such groups who infiltrate and provoke to harm the image of a movement which counts millions of Catalans.”

Torra told the regional parliament on Thursday that he wanted an official referendum for a “Catalan republic” by next year. If it is approved, it means that Catalonia could be independent from Spain by the end of 2021.

He said that there was a “false narrative” about the Catalan separatist movement being violent. He added with defiance, “If we have been sentenced to 100 years in prison for putting out the ballot boxes, the response is clear: we’ll have to put them out again for self-determination.”

Why did the riots begin?

The riots were sparked in Barcelona on Monday after the Spanish Supreme Court sentenced nine independence movement leaders to prison for up to 13 years. They were imprisoned for their parts in the failed independence bid that took place in 2017. The leaders first held an illegal referendum then proclaimed a declaration of independence, causing Madrid to suspend Catalonia’s autonomy and sack its government.

Soon after the verdict was revealed, around 10,000 protesters flocked Barcelona’s El Prat airport, disrupting transportation services and causing the cancellation for over 100 flights. The protests also quickly spread to other regions of Catalonia like Tarragona and Lleida.

“As far as what the Supreme Court has done with the sentencing, 9 to 13 years is way too much. But at the same time, they did something illegal so they should be charged. But I don’t think it is fair to get such a long sentence,” Julio Garcia, a Catalan local told InsideOver.

As the violence escalated, cars were set on fire, and police officers were attacked with stones, acid, fireworks, and other objects. Hundreds gathered in the mobs, with one group of masked protesters screaming in front of a burning barricade, “This isn’t violence, it’s self-defence!”

Jose Ramon Garcia, an elderly local who had gone out for a quiet drink and found himself engulfed in the mobs told AFP, “I’m just a bag of nerves.”

“I was just sitting calmly in the bar and suddenly they appeared from all directions,” he said. “And these are ‘peaceful’ demonstrators?”

An 18-year-old student, Bernat Busquet, draped in an independence flag explained that many had simply lost the will to protest peacefully.

“It’s a reaction to what the police did on October 1 to shut down the referendum and against what the justice system did on Monday in condemning the separatist [leaders],” he told AFP.

According to the authorities, eighty people – including 46 police officers – have been injured overnight and 33 people arrested.

Fourth general election

Spain is set to have its fourth general election on November 10 in just four years because Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been unable to maintain a stable government. At a Spanish delegation this week, many Catalans from various backgrounds described Sánchez’s government as “fascist” and “a dictatorship”. Sanchez has remained steadfast, stating that the Spanish government would not bulk under the pressure of the ensuing protests.

Jane Muir, a British ex-pat who has lived in Barcelona for twenty years told InsideOver, “I respect the desire of the Catalan people to seek independence to reclaim their culture after so many years of being oppressed by dictatorship. However, the ways in which I have experienced and witnessed the drive to push for independence is neither effective nor right. Protesting and rioting does nothing but cripple the city and creates tension and fear. I think there could be a right way to earn independence but until that way is found, all that will come from a new vote is more chaos and political backlash.”

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The city of Barcelona is reeling from a fresh outbreak of violence today (17. Oct) after dozens of cars were set on fire in the latest fallout from the sentencing of 12 separatist politicians.

Protesters hurled acid and molotov cocktails at police as they vented their fury at the Supreme Court’s verdict in a third successive night of turmoil.

Following Tuesday night’s clashes, which had seen protesters set fire to barricades and containers in the Eixample neighbourhood, this time the violence centred on Carrer d’Diputacio, close to the Arc de Triomphe, where Catalonia’s interior ministry is located.

After initially throwing toilet paper and demanding the resignation of interior minister Miquel Buch, who is accused of encouraging police brutality against the demonstrations, protesters reacted violently when officers of the Mossos d’Esquadra attempted to disperse the crowd by firing rubber bullets. As the demonstrators moved away from the scene, they began setting fire to cars and containers and hurling missiles at police.

In total, around 45 cars are thought to have been set on fire, and various reports attest to the use of acid. Eyewitnesses also report demonstrators launching rockets at police helicopters as tensions spiralled out of control.

Week of fury

Barcelona was already in turmoil after two days of clashes, prompted by the Supreme Court’s decision to jail nine pro-independence figureheads for their part in the illegal referendum of 2017. A further three politicians were barred from further political activity.

Hours after the verdict was read out on Monday afternoon, an estimated 8,000 independence supporters flocked to Barcelona’s airport and caused the cancellation of over 100 flights. Then, on Tuesday night, an attempted sit-in that took place outside a Spanish diplomatic building had culminated in protesters setting fire to barricades and containers, a forerunner of last night’s disturbances. Over 100 people have been injured in the two attacks, with reports that several demonstrators have been partially blinded by rubber bullets.

“We’re going ahead”

Despite the controversy, pro-independence groups have insisted they will continue to protest the verdict handed down by Spain’s Supreme Court, suggesting that the Spanish authorities have caused the current crisis by attempting to suppress their democratic rights and handing down heavy jail terms to their figureheads.

A series of five ‘Liberty Marches’ began yesterday at various points across Catalonia, intending to converge on Barcelona Friday and culminate in a general strike, similar to the one which followed the failed independence bid of 2017.

Speaking to InsideOver, Sergi Perello, vice-secretary of the pro-independence CSC union and a key organizer of the protest, said that “the strike will go ahead, because we’ve got nothing to do with what’s happened [this week].”

Perello insists that his strike is not politically motivated, although he admits that his movement is pro-independence and the strike was convened in the wake of Monday’s Supreme Court verdict. He also condemned the actions of the police in suppressing this week’s demonstrations.

Asked if his strike risks stoking further tensions, Perello responded: “Are we supposed to stay at home? We organized this strike three days ago and the reasons are still valid.”

“We’re not responsible for [the fact that] in a strike there are a minority of people who commit violence. The majority have always been peaceful – we don’t have to feel guilty. It will make me very sad if there is violence. Violence is not good for this country [Catalonia] or our objectives.”

“The police must behave within the law.”

“We have the right to protest”

Other separatist leaders have come out in condemnation of this week’s clashes, notably regional president Quim Torra, who had earlier been criticized for encouraging the demonstrations.

Torra, who had urged independence supporters to “squeeze” in the run-up to the Supreme Court verdict and early joined one of the Liberty Marches, told Catalan TV this morning that the violence must stop, adding that “the independence movement condemns and will continue to condemn violence, wherever it comes from.” However, he also blamed “infiltrators and provocateurs” for causing the clashes.

Omnium, the pro-Catalan cultural group which has organized many protests itself, echoed Torra’s condemnation in an interview with InsideOver — but said the protests must continue.

“As always, we’re only going to lend our support to protests and actions that are peaceful,” an Omnium spokesperson told us. “Any action that is violent doesn’t represent us”.

“[However] we are in favour of the actions brought forward by Omnium and the Catalan National Assembly [another pro-independence movement]. The right to protest is a right guaranteed by the Spanish constitution”.

“Faced by the imprisonment of democratic leaders, we won’t renounce our right to protest. But we will, as always, appeal to all protesters that they remain pacifist, civil and exemplary. We’re a pacifist movement by definition.”

“This has gone far enough”

However many people in Barcelona believe it’s time to stop the protests – for everyone’s sake.

A spokesperson for the Catalan Civil Society, a loyalist movement which purports to repair relations between Barcelona and Madrid, told InsideOver: “It seems very sad to me that the Catalan Government and President Torra are manipulating all of us in Catalonia. What Torra has done is outrageous.

“The violence we saw today and the day before yesterday has crossed a red line in terms of freedom of expression and freedom of speech, really there are people who are taking advantage of the situation. 

“We call on those people, and Torra, to stop the pro-independence process and stop inciting violence, because it’s not going anywhere. They have to take all Catalans into account, regardless of whether they support independence.

“As an organization, we want to appeal to the spirit of existence. This violence has gone far enough now.”

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