French riot police have begun removing Catalan pro-independence protesters blocking the AP-7 highway at La Jonquera, on the border between Spain and France.
On Monday morning, more than 2,000 people had cut off the busy highway crossing, which is a major route for freight trucks. There were long delays on alternatives roads such as the N-II motorway, where traffic was at a standstill for 10 kilometers.
The Spanish Confederation of Freight Transportation CETM has warned that the road block could have a daily economic impact of €15 million and affect 20,000 trucks taking goods across the border.
The protest was called by Tsunami Democràtic, a movement with no visible leaders that has been coordinating protests in Catalonia in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that sentenced nine pro-independence leaders to jail terms. This movement has promised three days of protests.
The protesters set up a large platform on the side of the highway leading into Spain, and made a barricade with construction material in the opposite direction into France.
The highway was cut off for nearly 24 hours before French officers from the National Police and National Gendarmerie began to remove the protesters at around 8am on Tuesday. The demonstrators, who were seated on the ground, held on to one another to avoid being pulled away by the police.
The French police used pepper spray against the demonstrators, some of whom were forced to run away. Some of the protesters were also beaten with batons.
Shortly before 10.30am the Catalan regional force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, and the Spanish Civil Guard began removing protesters on the northbound lanes.
According to Spanish government sources, Spain’s caretaker Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marklaska and his French counterpart, Christophe Castaner were “in constant communication” about the situation. The French riot police had orders to clear the border but decided not to take action until Tuesday morning.
Tsunami Democràtic has called the protest their “most ambitious action,” and promised more protests if a political solution is not found for the crisis in Catalonia. The group is calling for the “right to self-determination, freedom for the prisoners, exiles and reprisal victims [in reference to the Catalan separatists in jail or in self-imposed exile for their role in the 2017 breakaway bid] and the free pursuit of basic rights.”
Tsunami Democràtic explained in a statement that the aim of the roadblock is to make the international community “understand” that the only solution to the crisis in Catalonia is to “sit down and talk.” Failing to do so will only further isolate the breakaway region, they maintain. According to the statement, the roadblock near the French border is meant to symbolize this isolation.
Ask for at least one of these days off from work. You have to be available to go to different parts of the region, and if you can, spend the night outside
Tsunami Democràtic instructions
In a statement issued on Friday, the group said that the protest will last three days. “Ask for at least one of these days off from work. You have to be available to go to different parts of the region, and if you can, spend the night outside,” the group told supporters, adding that they would need to bring warm clothes, cellphone batteries, food, sleeping bags and tents, and to display a non-violent attitude.
Tsunami Democràtic was activated on September 2 with the public support of the Catalan regional premier Quim Torra, his deputy premier Pere Aragonès, and the speaker of the regional parliament, Roger Torrent. Its leaders are currently unknown, but police believe that it was conceived during a meeting in Switzerland between the former Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont, Torra, representatives of Catalan nationalist parties, and pro-independence civic associations ANC and Òmnium Cultural.
The protest comes just after Spaniards returned to the polls on Sunday for the fourth general election in as many years. The far-right party Vox, which campaigned heavily against the Catalan independence movement, made the biggest gains of the night, winning 52 seats in Spain’s lower house, the Congress of Deputies.
English version by Melissa Kitson.