Human towers defy gravity in Valls

Human towers or 'castells' are a typical Catalan tradition that have their origin in the southern town of Valls, near Tarragona.

On Sunday, Valls became once again the capital of castells, holding its annual festival, when the two local groups, la Colla Vella and la Colla Jove compete to build the highest towers. They're always amazing –and they were, again, this time.

This year, la Colla Vella surprised the audience at the local square with two simultaneous towers of nine levels each. La Colla Jove also did castells of up to eight and nine levels.

They both ended up their performances with a 'pillar' of seven levels: that is, seven people, one on top of the other defying gravity to the extremes.

Many during the festival held banners for the "release of political prisoners."

Castells groups are usually heavily involved in Catalan politics, and recently performed in front of the Madrid prisons where nine politicians and activists are being held for their role during the independence referendum.