La Jonquera (Spain) (AFP)
The warning "cut for demonstration" appeared Monday morning on the panels overlooking the highway that connects Spain to France: hundreds of Catalan separatists have occupied the tracks, for a new protest against the conviction of their leaders.
On the AP-7 cut in both directions by dozens of vehicles, at the border, protesters took care to hide their faces before standing up to photographers to show the same sign: "All in La Jonquera ", Spanish city located 40 km south of Perpignan.
Hundreds of motorists but also pedestrians arise over the hours, responding to the call of the mysterious platform "Democratic Tsunami" and Committees of Defense of the Republic (CDR), formed by groups of radical separatists.
Protesters unpack food, kettles and gas barbecues brought to hold "three days" according to them. A scene is set up on a track where the famous Catalan singer Lluis Llach, a 71-year-old separatist, is invited to perform.
This prolonged blockade of the highway is a new action of brilliance to try to attract the international attention and to protest against the sentences of 9 to 13 years of imprisonment inflicted on nine Catalan independence leaders mid-October for their role in the secession attempt of 2017.
"Democratic Tsunami" had organized its first big protest on the day of the announcement of the sentence against the separatist leaders: a blockage of access to Barcelona airport that ended with the first clashes of young people with the police.
Other demonstrations then degenerated into violent clashes for several evenings.
"Democratic Tsunami" Monday called on the activists to present "a resolutely non-violent attitude".
According to an AFP photographer, tensions took place in the afternoon between protesters and French gendarmes who asked them to leave.
A 72-year-old man, refusing to reveal his identity like many demonstrators, said he had come with other pensioners from Reus, a city more than 200 kilometers away. "We fight for our rights, we want freedom, self-determination and amnesty" for condemned independentists, he said in Catalan.
On its encrypted e-mail application Telegram, "Democratic Tsunami" set the tone: "This mobilization is a cry to the international community to convey to the Spanish state that the only way is to sit down and speak "with the separatists, who are calling for a referendum on the independence of the region.
- "Affect the economy" -
The Socialists in power in Madrid, like the Conservatives, refuse such a referendum in the name of respect for the Constitution.
In the morning, in Barcelona, the Catalan separatist president, Quim Torra, took up the slogan: "It is the moment or never of sit and talk, it is the challenge, President Sanchez, "he said to the head of the outgoing Socialist government.
This blocking of the border with France comes after the Spanish legislative marked by a slight decline of the Socialists and a leap from the extreme right, which complicate even more the formation of a government.
In Catalonia, the three independentist parties won a seat and have 23 deputies in the room out of the 48 seats in play in the region.
The occupation of the AP-7, a strategic link between Spain and the rest of Europe, has caused a cut of traffic over more than 20 km, according to the road information service, and the immobilization of many trucks.
"You speak of a democratic act!", Reacted on Twitter the Catalan Civil Society movement (CSC), mobilized against the independence in a very divided region on the secession.
While the CDRs called in their message to "affect the economy and infrastructure" as a means of pressure, SCC reproaches them for wanting to lead the region to "ruin" and calls for a "firm" action against this type of action.
© 2019 AFP