Catalan police use force to keep opposing protests apart

Thousands of pro-independence people took to the streets of Barcelona on Saturday to oppose a march by Spanish police unions that wanted to honor officers that took part in last year's referendum crackdown.

According to official figures from Barcelona's local police, 6.000 pro-independence protesters took to the streets of Barcelona, while 3,000 Spanish police officers and supporters participated in their own demonstration. 

Catalan police officers, the Mossos d'Esquadra, were trying to avoid the opposing groups from coming face-to-face. Six people were arrested, with 14 others injured. 

There were some tense moments around Via Laietana, right in the city center of the Catalan capital, as the Mossos tried to keep the pro-independence groups away from the Spanish agents.

Protesters threw holi paint to the Catalan police officers, that later reacted by pushing them away. There were moments of tension, with agents violently hitting people with their batons. Protesters later chanted messages against the Catalan police and urged the minister of Home Affairs, Miquel Buch, to resign.

Although there was some tension in the frontline of the pro-independence march, the atmosphere was calm and festive at Plaça Sant Jaume, where thousands of people were protesting the Spanish police presence in the city.

A helicopter was flying above the city center of Barcelona, where the two opposed protests were taking place. 

Homage to referendum crackdown

Two days before the anniversary of the independence referendum, Spanish police unions took to the streets of Barcelona to honor the officers that took part in the operation to stop the vote, and to ask for better pay conditions.

More than 1,000 people were injured in last year police operation to stop the October 1 independence referendum.

Images of police officers hitting voters caused world-wide outrage, with NGOs such as Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch urging for an independent investigation and describing the use of violence "excessive" and "disproportionate".

A spokesman for the far-right party VOX taking part in the protest said that they want the Mossos d'Esquadra, the Catalan police, to be dissolved because they consider them "separatists".

The Mossos were precisely keeping away pro-independence protesters from the Spanish police march, in some cases by using force against independence supporters. 

The spokesman for Jusapol, the Spanish police union, said their demonstration was an "event to honor" officers that took part in last year operation to stop the referendum. "They complied with the law, they did what they were asked to do," he insisted.

In the Spanish police march, there were also members of unionist political parties such as Cs, the opposition party in Catalonia.

In the counter-protest, there were members from far-left CUP and civil groups. CUP MP Vidal Aragonès said a demonstration by Spanish police officers is unacceptable. "They shouldn't be taken to the streets to remember that they used violence and that they tried to humiliate citizens," he said.

The president of the grass-roots pro-independence organization ANC, Elisenda Paluzie, also criticized the police march, saying it is "shameful" that someone could honor the police crackdown of the referendum.

Pro-independence groups insist the Spanish police march in Barcelona is "unacceptable" and a "provocation" considering the upcoming referendum anniversary.

Catalan police officers were trying to avoid the opposing groups from coming face-to-face. The protests moved from the Via Laietana area to Plaça Catalunya -where the Spanish policemen gathered- and la Rambla, where pro-independence protesters were being kept away from the Spanish officers.