A pro-independence general strike in Catalonia today has seen dozens of the regions’ roads blocked by protestors and its education sector seriously affected.
As early as six this morning, demonstrators began moving onto around 60 roads across Catalonia, causing massive traffic jams on several key roads. A large number of the protests centered on the main access routes in and out of Barcelona, as well as a number of city centre avenues and roundabouts.
Catalonia’s transport authorities responded to the wave of road blockages by issuing a general warning to travellers not to travel by car today.
The region’s local police, the Mossos D’Esquadra, took charge of physically removing the banner-waving protestors from the roads to allow traffic through. Despite some minor scuffles, the atmosphere seems largely peaceful, with one photo showing two demonstrators playing chess on a folding table in the middle of a motorway.
Although originally called to protest minimal wage deals by one small pro-independence Catalan trade union, the strike was quickly adopted by several grassroots nationalist associations and political parties to protest against the incarceration of eight sacked nationalist ministers ,and the imposition of direct rule from Madrid.
Trade union sources said that education was the other sector seriously affected by the general strike, with all of Catalonai's universities and around half the schools reported closed.
However, despite the road traffic chaos, the overall level of support was reported to be lower than the previous pro-independence general strike, held on October 3rd, shortly after a tumultuous banned referendum.
Most businesses and factories were reported to be operating normally today, as were the region’s railways and airports. The biggest exception to the general rule was on the high-speed train link between Barcelona and France, where hundreds of protestors in the city of Girona, a Catalan nationalist stronghold, moved onto the platforms and railway lines chanting ‘Freedom, Freedom.” Some of Barcelona’s local lines were also blocked by demonstrators.
Spain’s Interior Minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido, told reporters in a mid-morning update that the strike was passing off without major incidents. Other government sources said the strike had had “minimal support.”
Pro-independence demonstrations to protest against “Madrid’s authoritarian policies”, are expected later today in the region. At midday thousands of protestors demanding freedom for the incarcerated pro-independence ministers and leaders had once again filled Barcelona’s Sant Jaume square in front of the city’s town hall, a traditional assembly point for Catalonia's separatist movement.
