(1 Oct 2018) Tensions rose between police and protesters in Barcelona on Monday evening after supporters of Catalonian secession from Spain marched in large numbers to mark the anniversary of a referendum that was part of a thwarted bid for independence last year.
The evening march in the region's capital drew what local police estimated was a crowd of 180,000 people.
A spontaneous spin-off demonstration produced a tense face-off between police and lingering protesters, capping a day of noisy and largely non-violent demonstrations.
The anniversary of the event that sparked Spain's gravest political crisis in decades was marked by a fractured Catalan independence movement amid delicate talks on the region's future with the country's the centre-left Socialist government.
Last year's Oct. 1 referendum in Catalonia, ruled illegal by a court, was stopped by Spanish police and failed in its bid to produce a separate Catalan state.
For many Catalans, the vote has become a symbol of their long fight for self-determination.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
