Catalan Radicals Protest Parliament's Decision To Strip Torra Of Lawmaker's Mandate

MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th January, 2020) A protest rally against the Catalan parliament's decision to strip Catalan president Quim Torra of his status of a regional lawmaker ended in riots in Barcelona.

On Monday, Spain's central electoral commission (JEC) also obliged Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent to immediately oust Torra. The requests come after Spain's Supreme Court rejected Torra's appeal against the JEC's decision to ban him from holding elected office for disobedience.

Torra supporters gathered for a rally near the Catalan parliament building, where the plenary meeting was being held, trying to break through the police cordons in front of the entrance.

After that, part of the protesters moved to Placa Urquinaona near the national police headquarter, which has been a protest epicenter last fall. The rioters burned and turned over trash containers, threw bottles at law enforcement officers and built barricades.

Protests in Catalonia began in mid-October as the Spanish Supreme Court sentenced nine Catalan pro-independence leaders to lengthy prison terms over their involvement in the 2017 independence referendum. Hundreds of people have been arrested and injured in the unrest in the wake of the court's decision.