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Separatists in Catalonia block roads, rail line

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BARCELONA: Pro-independence protesters obstructed major roads and a high-speed railway line in Spain’s Catalonia region on Monday, a year after a banned referendum on secession was marred by police violence.


“Everything began on October 1 and everything goes back to October 1,” the region’s separatist president Quim Torra said.


He spoke at a ceremony in Sant Julia de Ramis, northern Catalonia, on a stage near a big black and white banner that read “No forgetting, no forgiving.”


Ten kilometres away in Girona, hundreds of activists, many covering their faces with scarves, occupied high-speed railway tracks for around three hours, blocking services linking Figueres, Girona and Barcelona, Spain’s state-owned rail operator Renfe said.


Central streets in Barcelona and Lleida were blocked, as was the AP-7 motorway south of Barcelona, and the A2 that links the city with Madrid, Catalan TV images showed.


Activists swarmed into Catalonia’s regional government building in Girona and took down the facade’s Spanish flag, replacing it with a red, yellow and blue separatist flag.


Torra praised their actions, saying they were “doing well in putting on the pressure.”


Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, who is Catalan, warned that “maintaining public order is the responsibility of Torra and the Catalan regional government.”


A year after the contested referendum, disagreements among separatists have nevertheless deepened in the wealthy northeastern region, which is home to 7.5 million people and has its own language.


Far from uniting the community, it has polarised public opinion, cleaving deep divisions as to the region’s fate.


— AFP


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