Several thousand protesters gathered on Tuesday outside the Barcelona headquarters of Spain’s National Police to protest alleged brutality by police during a disputed referendum on Catalonia’s secession that left hundreds of people injured.
The crowd gathered in the Catalan capital, shouting slogans calling Spanish police an “occupying force” and urging them to leave the northeastern region. The protest came as several small labor unions and grassroots pro-independence groups urged workers throughout Catalonia to go on partial or full-day strikes and as the region’s leaders ponder a possible declaration of independence, two days after the referendum that turned violent and that Madrid deemed illegal and invalid.
“People are angry, very angry,” said Josep llavina, a 53 year old self-employed worker who had traveled to Barcelona from a nearby town to participate in the protest outside the police building.