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Nearly 300 police injured in Catalan protests: Madrid

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Nearly 300 police injured in Catalan protests: Madrid
Photo: AFP

Nearly 300 police were injured in the violent protests which erupted across Catalonia following the jailing of nine Catalan separatist leaders earlier this month, the Spanish government said Friday.

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A total of 289 police officers were injured in the clashes, including 154from Catalonia's regional police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, government spokeswoman Isabel Celaa told a news conference following a weekly cabinet meeting.

Catalonia's regional emergency services had previously said they had treated 593 people injured in the protests between October 14th and 20th, including 226 police officers.

The latest toll for the number of injured police is higher because some officers were treated in private clinics, a spokesman for the interior ministry said.

A powerful grassroots separatist organisation, ANC, said Wednesday that according to Catalonia's regional health department, 579 people were injured by "police violence" in the protests.

Celaa said over 200 people were arrested during the protests. Of these, 134 adults and 15 minors have appeared before a judge and 31 were sent to jail. Of the 15 minors, 14 were released on probation and one was placed in a juvenile detention centre.

The streets of Barcelona and other Catalan cities were rocked by demonstrations for several days after Spain's Supreme Court on October 14th sentenced the nine leaders, mostly former members of the Catalan regional government, to prison terms of up to 13 years for sedition over a failed 2017 independence bid.

Demonstrators set fire to cars and garbage bins and threw rocks, Molotov cocktails and steel balls at police, who responded with batons and rubber bullets.

READ ALSO: Crisis in Catalonia: Barcelona braced for new wave of protests

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