CATALAN INDEPENDENCE
Marchers protest against detention of Catalan separatists
Barcelona — Hundreds of thousands of people marched in Barcelona on Sunday to protest against the detention of nine Catalan separatists to be tried for "rebellion". Many chanted "freedom for the political prisoners" as they marched along Parallel Avenue, one of the city’s main streets, many waving the red and yellow Catalan flag. The protest came six months after the first incarcerations of top Catalan separatist leaders for misuse of public funds, sedition and rebellion — which carries a prison sentence of 30 years and implies that a "violent uprising" took place — over their separatist push. "Since they could not decapitate separatism, they are trying to do it through the courts," said Roser Urgelles, a 59-year-old teacher, at the protest. "They need to demonstrate that there was violence to execute the sentences that they want, so they invent it," she said. "But we will continue to protest peacefully." Like thousands of others at the march, she wore a yellow ribbon to show solida...
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