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Bloomberg
Protesters continued to disupt rail and road travel as unrest flickered across Catalonia a day after a Madrid court handed down jail sentences totalling 100 years to separatist leaders who tried to split the region from Spain in 2017.
Demonstrators blocked several highways while the high-speed rail service north of Barcelona to Girona was disrupted by damage to the track. Vueling, a unit of International Consolidated Airlines Group SA, said 20 more flights from Barcelona airport would be cancelled on Tuesday after 100 cancellations on Monday, a spokesman for the company said by phone.
Meanwhile, the government is investigating who has been marshaling the disruption, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said. “We have an efficient intelligence service and we’ll end up knowing who is behind this,†he told state broadcaster TVE.
The Supreme Court’s decision to imprison a group of separatist leaders for their attempt to break away from Spain in 2017 sparked protests across the region as the movement sought to focus international attention on the issue. With the country heading for a general election next month, the bigger question is how voters in the rest of Spain will react.
Spanish politics has been dominated by Catalan separatists’ demand for independence since the illegal referendum two years ago. But Monday’s Supreme Court verdict — nine separatist leaders were sentenced to up to 13 years for their part in the drama — may prove a watershed.
Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has to hope efforts to reignite the chaos of two years ago will fail, allowing him to turn the page on a period of
bitterness. His opponents — whether that’s the separatists in Catalonia or the Spanish nationalists aiming to prevent him taking power again — are betting on the protests to rile up their support all over again.
“It’s a situation that provides some good ammunition for parties more on the political extremes,†said Alex Quiroga, a lecturer on Spanish political history at Newcastle University in England.
Some protesters walked more than 10 miles from the city centre to join the throng after activists shut down the main metro connection. About 10% of flights were cancelled.