Category Archives: Spain

Violence erupts after pro-Catalan general strike in Barcelona

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Protesters set fire to bins and chant ‘The streets will always be ours’ in fifth night of rioting

Catalonia suffered a fifth consecutive night of rioting on Friday after violence erupted in Barcelona following a peaceful demonstration attended by more than 500,000 people in protest at the heavy sentences handed down to Catalan politicians and activists.

There were disturbances and police charges on Via Laietana near the headquarters of the Spanish national police during Friday afternoon but, no sooner had the demonstration begun to disperse at 6.30pm than rioting broke out around Plaça Urquinaona in the city centre.

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Clashes escalate in Barcelona as Catalan president blames ‘infiltrators’ for violent protests

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Quim Torra says people trying to damage reputation of independence movement as fourth night of violence rocks city

Barcelona suffered its fourth and worst night of violence on Thursday as pro-independence supporters clashed with police and right-wing groups in running battles well into the small hours of Friday morning.

The disturbances followed a now familiar pattern as a large demonstration called earlier in the evening dispersed and groups of protesters clashed with police in the city centre who say that a clothing shop was set on fire and a bank was vandalised.

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‘It’s barbarity’: clashes in Barcelona after Catalan separatists sentenced – video

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Police and protesters clashed in Barcelona and other Catalonia towns on Tuesday over the jail sentences handed to nine Catalan separatist leaders. A peaceful candlelit protest outside the offices of the Spanish government in Barcelona escalated and the central government warned that violent demonstrations would be met with a ‘firm, proportional and united’ response

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Police clash with Catalonia protesters in second night of violence

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Spanish government warns of ‘firm response’ to pro-independence unrest

The Spanish government has warned that violent protests in Catalonia will be met with a “firm, proportional and united” response after the jailing of nine pro-independence leaders triggered a second night of unrest in the region.

In Barcelona, peaceful, planned demonstrations erupted into running battles with the police on Tuesday.

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Catalan independence leaders accused of ‘totalitarian attitude’

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Spain’s foreign minister says regional government excludes views of people who do not back independence

The Spanish foreign minister has accused the pro-independence Catalan government of exhibiting a “totalitarian attitude” by excluding and ignoring the 50% of Catalans who oppose breaking away from Spain.

Josep Borrell, who is himself Catalan, made the remarks a day after nine senior Catalan leaders were jailed for sedition over their roles in the failed attempt for regional independence.

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Catalonia’s separatists were jailed for sedition, but brought down by hubris | Giles Tremlett

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It could have been very different. But the 2017 declaration of independence threw away the campaign’s moral advantage

Some things are impossible. Catalan independence is currently one of them. The stiff jail sentences handed down to the leaders of the separatist campaign that peaked in 2017 with a banned referendum, police violence and a fudged declaration of independence make that clearer than ever.

There are huge practical obstacles to independence, starting with the many hurdles written into Spain’s constitution. Overcoming these requires massive support in Catalonia itself; but the separatist leaders who orchestrated a head-on collision with the law never had anything like that. The jail sentences are for sedition, but their real problem is hubris.

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Thousands protest over prison terms for Catalan separatist leaders – video

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Protesters took to the streets of Barcelona and other parts of Spain after the supreme court jailed nine Catalan separatist leaders for sedition over their role in a failed independence bid in 2017. Three main streets in Barcelona were blocked, as was train and metro access to Barcelona airport

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Violent clashes over Catalan separatist leaders’ prison terms

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Chaos at Barcelona airport as protesters react to sentencing over 2017 bid for independence

The Catalan independence crisis erupted again on Monday as police and protesters clashed at Barcelona airport hours after the Spanish supreme court jailed nine Catalan separatist leaders over their roles in the failed bid for secession two years ago.

Protesters took to the streets, with many gathering at Barcelona’s El Prat airport after the court acquitted the nine defendants of the charge of violent rebellion but convicted them variously of sedition, misuse of public funds and disobedience.

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Catalan separatist leaders given lengthy prison sentences

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Nine convicted variously of sedition, misuse of public funds and disobedience over 2017 independence vote

Spain’s supreme court has jailed nine prominent Catalan separatist leaders for sedition over their roles in the failed push for independence two years ago, triggering angry protests in Catalonia and renewed calls for a political solution to the long-running territorial dispute.

Protesters took to the streets and others tried to blockade the main terminal at Barcelona airport after the court acquitted the nine defendants of the charge of violent rebellion but convicted them variously of sedition, misuse of public funds and disobedience.

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What is the story of Catalan independence – and what happens next?

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On day that Spain’s supreme court announced verdicts in trial of 12 separatist leaders, we look at how the movement has evolved

Who’s who: key figures in the push for Catalan independence

On Monday, Spain’s supreme court announced its verdict in the landmark trial of 12 Catalan leaders accused of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds over their roles in the failed push for regional independence two years ago.

Nine of them were cleared of violent rebellion but convicted of the lesser charges of sedition and misuse of public funds.

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America’s origin myth, and its reputation at risk | Letters

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Contrary to popular belief, the Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci has little to do with the name of the modern-day continent, writes Colin Moffat. Plus Patrick Billingham says Donald Trump has brought the US into disrepute

I fear Thomas Eaton (Weekend Quiz, 12 October) is giving further credence to “fake news” from 1507, when a German cartographer was seeking the derivation of “America” and hit upon the name of Amerigo Vespucci, an obscure Florentine navigator. Derived from this single source, this made-up derivation has been copied ever after.

The fact is that Christopher Columbus visited Iceland in 1477-78, and learned of a western landmass named “Markland”. Seeking funds from King Ferdinand of Spain, he told the king that the western continent really did exist, it even had a name – and Columbus adapted “Markland” into the Spanish way of speaking, which requires an initial vowel “A-”, and dropped “-land” substituting “-ia”.

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Pig ignorant: Spanish PM ridiculed for mixing up his hams

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Pedro Sánchez confuses prized jamón ibérico for plain old jamón serrano in ‘serious error’

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has confused jamón ibérico, the prized Spanish ham, with run-of-the-mill jamón serrano in a gaffe on a par with a French politician referring to a fine burgundy as plonk.

Speaking at the centuries-old livestock fair in Zafra in Extremadura, western Spain, Sánchez left his audience open-mouthed when he told them “you can be sure that when the Chinese president visited Spain he would have been served a plate of jamón serrano from Extremadura”.

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Austrian elections offer latest sign far right’s rise is faltering in Europe

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Freedom party’s vote collapses to 16%, as others stall in Italy, Spain, France and elsewhere

The slump in support for the nationalist Freedom party (FPÖ) in Austria’s elections on Sunday is the latest indication that if the tide has not turned against Europe’s far-right populists, it does seem – for the time being, at least – to have stopped rising.

Sebastian Kurz’s conservative People’s party (ÖVP) won 37.1% of the vote, its best score since 2002, while the share held by FPÖ, until May his junior coalition partner in government, collapsed to 16.1%, down a full 10 percentage points.

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Canary Islands hold their breath for Thomas Cook fallout

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Tour giant’s collapse leaves big hotel debts and staff fearing for jobs just before winter season

Under a late September sun that blisters white northern European skin with ease, Playa de las Américas offers its visitors a bounteous blend of the familiar and the exotic.

On the palm-lined main thoroughfare of the Tenerife resort town, tourists have an array of choice, from buying a pint for €1.50 (£1.33) to watching football matches, taking jetski trips and even Harley-Davidson tours of the island.

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Contractor, actor … protest leader? The Egyptian exile driving rare dissent

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Mohamed Ali is unlikely source of viral videos about corruption that have stirred resentment

Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets across Egypt since Friday in a rare show of public dissent against Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi’s rule. But the call for demonstrations came from an unlikely source: a contractor and part-time actor living in exile in Barcelona, who has made bold corruption claims in a string of viral videos.

Mohamed Ali is a former military contractor who addresses Egyptians from his apartment, shirt often unbuttoned and cigarette in hand. His colloquial style of speech, sometimes swearing in an accent more working class than his own, is intended to present a man-of-the-people appeal. Ali has called for a million Egyptians to march on Friday.

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Spain to move Franco’s remains after court gives go-ahead

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Government says transfer of body to municipal cemetery will occur as soon as possible

The remains of Francisco Franco are to be moved from the state mausoleum in which he was buried to a municipal cemetery to lie alongside the former dictator’s wife, after Spain’s supreme court ruled in favour of exhuming his body.

The ruling on Tuesday is likely to be the final chapter after decades of controversy over Franco’s burial place. Removing his body from its tomb in the Valley of the Fallen memorial near Madrid, where he was placed after his death in 1975, has been a priority of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) since it came to power in June last year.

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Mass protests in Spain after 19 women are murdered by partners

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‘Feminist emergency’ demonstrations follow series of high-profile rape cases

Protesters will take to the streets of more than 250 towns and cities across Spain on Friday to declare a “feminist emergency” after a series of high-profile rape cases and a summer in which 19 women were murdered by current or former partners.

Organisers are aiming to “turn the night purple” – the colour of the feminist movement – to raise the alarm and protest against apathy, indifference and a lack of attention from politicians and the media.

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Spain likely to return to the polls in November after party talks fail

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Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez appears to have failed in bid to form a stable government

Spain looks set to return to the polls for the fourth time in as many years in November after last-ditch efforts to break the deadlock following April’s inconclusive vote came to nothing late on Tuesday.

Although the Spanish socialist party (PSOE), led by the acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, won the most votes five months ago, it fell well short of a majority in the country’s 350-seat congress.

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