Catalan separatists, police clash in fresh violence

Catalan separatists burned barricades and clashed with police in Barcelona on Thursday in a fourth night of violence triggered by Spain's jailing of nine of their leaders over a failed independence bid.

Earlier on Thursday, around 25,000 striking students and their supporters took part in a midday rally outside Barcelona city hall, according to municipal police. Thousands more are on a cross-country march towards Barcelona for Friday's rally. Activists blocked several roads across Catalonia by burning tyres while the commuter rail service in Barcelona was intermittently disrupted due to demonstrators on the tracks, officials said.

Announced Monday morning, the verdict has sparked three days of large demonstrations which have turned increasingly violent with separatist activists engaged in nighttime clashes with riot police in Barcelona and elsewhere.Overnight, protesters in Barcelona set fire to cars and large wheelie bins, overturned metal barriers and threw firecrackers at police, who pushed back with batons and shields.Another 38 people were injured in protests in other Catalan cities, including Lerida and Girona.

Berta Barbet, a political scientist at the University of Barcelona, said the demonstrations"in their current size" would likely only last a week. But just hours later, he pledged in Catalonia's regional parliament to push for a new vote on secession by the end of his term in early 2022.A poll published in July by a public Catalan institute showed support for an independent Catalonia at its lowest level in two years, with 48.3 percent of people against and 44 percent in favour.

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