BARCELONA/MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th December, 2019) Several thousands people staged a pro-independence protest near a stadium in the Catalan capital in the run-up to a match between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona on Wednesday, according to a Sputnik correspondent at the scene.
Last week, Catalan pro-independence group Democratic Tsunami urged its supporters to gather near the Camp Nou stadium for a "massive" protest on December 18. The match with Real Madrid was initially due to take place on October 26, but was delayed in light of mass unrest in the Catalan capital.
"We came here to demand a political dialogue in connection with the situation in Catalonia," one of the protesters told Sputnik.
Many protesters are carrying banners in English that read: "Spain, sit and talk." The demonstrators seek to use the match between the two most famous Spanish football clubs, which is broadcast in many countries across the world, to draw attention to the Catalan issue.
Over 3,000 security forces have been dispatched to ensure order during the protest.
Once the match started, radical protesters began building barricades of garbage containers and road signs near the stadium, pelting police with various objects, including cans and bottles, according to the broadcast by Spain's LaOtra television channel. The police have responded with batons and rubber bullets.
The LaSexta tv channel, meanwhile, reported that law enforcement officers had fired tear gas. At least one person is said to have been detained in the unrest.
