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Police, Catalan Separatists Clash as Day of Protest Ends in Violence

Reuters

   BARCELONA - Clashes between police andmilitant elements in
   athousands-strong crowd of demonstratorstransformed part of central
   Barcelona into a battleground lateon Saturday as another day of
   pro-independence protests turnedviolent.

   Projectiles were fired, at least six people werehospitalized with
   injuries, and barricades were set alight afterofficers charged ranks of
   demonstrators--many young and maskingtheir faces--who had amassed
   outside Spanish policeheadquarters.

   The violent standoff in the city's tourist heartland offeredstark
   evidence of the faultlines developing between hardline andconciliatory
   elements within the region's independence movement.

   It lasted several hours before protesters dispersed through thecity's
   streets.

   Barcelona has witnessed daily pro-secession protests sinceOct. 14.That
   was when Spain's Supreme Court sentenced ninepoliticians and activists
   to up to 13 years in jail for theirrole in a failed independence bid in
   2017, prompting widespreadanger in the region and sending shockwaves
   through Spain'spolitical landscape.

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