After the news of the sentence of the political leaders behind the independent referendum of Catalonia, half a million of separatists went to the streets of Barcelona to protest against the judgment. People of all the region came to Barcelona on October 19th to protest, some of them walked by days to get there. And what started peacefully became intense by night. These pictures retract those hours in Barcelona and all the tension of that night.
Using guerrilla tactics, protestants block the streets of Barcelona Center lighting fire on the public garbage at strategic points of the city.
On October 14th the Spanish Justice announced the sentence of 9 Catalan politicians responsible of the referendum. The sentences variates between 9 to 13 years in jail.
The police and ambulance had difficulty moving around the city. Some strikers made way for ambulances.
Protestants took traffic signs to use as shields.
Oriol Junqueras, ex Vice President of the Catalonian Government, received the biggest sentence: 13 years under the crime of sedition and misappropriation. The verdict was considered high and unfair by the catalans, since this movement is much older and wasn’t started by those politicians.
Some residents tried to calm down the protestants and put out the fire of the streets, others threw things and water from the windows to hit the protestants.
On this day 83 people were arrested, 183 were injured - 2 of them lost a eye on the protests.
These photos were taken on October 19th.
