Tag Archives: Catalonia

Thousands of people protested in Madrid Saturday against Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s leftist government in a rally held in a key election year that was backed by far-right party Vox. Participants waved red and yellow Spanish flags and called on Sanchez to resign. Some held up signs with a photo …

A cargo train has hit a rush-hour passenger train in Catalonia, killing an engineer and injuring 85 people, Spanish authorities and the regional rail company said. Emergency crews said they were helping to remove about 100 people from the passenger train. The accident happened about 6 pm on Monday 15km …

Exiled former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont has been arrested in Italy on Thursday, his lawyer and an aide say, four years after fleeing following an independence referendum that Madrid ruled unconstitutional. The European MEP was expected to appear in court on Friday at a hearing that could see him extradited …

Thousands of Catalans chanted, sang, and waved flags as they marched through Barcelona on Saturday, calling for the region’s independence from Spain. The march, organized by the grassroots Assemblea Nacional Catalana ANC, was the first since Spain’s government pardoned nine Catalan separatist leaders who had been jailed for their role …

Wildfires burned in regions across southern Europe on Monday, fuelled by hot weather and strong winds, as some northern countries cleaned up after a weekend of torrential rain and flooding. In Greece, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said firefighters had battled around 50 fires during the past 24 hours and it …

Firefighters used water-carrying planes on Saturday as they battled to control a wildfire in Spain’s Costa Brava region that has forced 350 people to be evacuated from their homes, the regional fire service said. The blaze, which police think was caused by a discarded cigarette, tore through more than 400 …

Spain’s ruling Socialists will “never” allow an independence referendum in Catalonia, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Wednesday, as his government prepares to resume negotiations with Catalan separatists. His comments come a week after nine Catalan political leaders were pardoned and freed from jail for their part in the northeastern region’s …

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s office has announced that pardons for nine jailed Catalan separatist leaders, who’d been handed sentences ranging from nine to 13 years behind bars, have been approved by Spain’s cabinet.

The Spanish government plans to pardon Catalan independence leaders on Tuesday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said. Nine politicians and activists were jailed for sedition over the failed 2017 independence bid.

A huge crowd of protesters has assembled in Madrid, decrying government plans to pardon jailed Catalan leaders behind the failed 2017 independence bid, and demanding the resignation of the country’s PM over the move. Some 25,000 people gathered in central Madrid on Sunday, according to estimates by Spain’s National Police. …

Coronavirus cases in Spain jumped by nearly 1,700 on Wednesday, part of a surge that has prompted the construction of a military field hospital in the hard-hit Aragon region and led authorities in Galicia to practically ban smoking in public places. Health ministry data showed 1,690 new coronavirus cases were …

Spain’s Catalonia may take stricter measures to limit coronavirus contagion if situation does not improve in the next 10 days, regional leader Quim Torra said on Monday. Torra warned that in many parts of Catalonia the data was similar to the situation before Spain declared a national lockdown in March. …

Spain is safe for tourists and Spaniards, the government insisted on Sunday after Britain abruptly imposed a two-week coronavirus quarantine on travelers returning from there, a decision that filled holidaymakers with dismay. Last year, Britons made up over a fifth of foreign visitors to Spain, which relies heavily on tourism …

The speaker of the Catalan regional parliament demanded Tuesday that the Spanish government launch an official investigation into reports that his cellphone was the target of espionage, allegedly by Spanish security services. Roger Torrent, a leading supporter of Catalonia’s efforts to break away from Spain and become an independent country, …

Officials in Spain’s north-western region of Galicia have re-imposed restrictions on an area of 70,000 people following a Covid-19 outbreak. Only those traveling for work will be allowed to leave or enter the coastal district of A Marina from midnight on Sunday to Friday. The move comes a day after …

A winter storm lashing much of Spain has left 200,000 people without electricity, closed down schools and blocked roads A winter storm lashed much of Spain for a third day Tuesday, leaving 200,000 people without electricity, schools closed and roads blocked by snow as it killed four people. Massive waves …

Traffic on the main highway between Spain and France remained at a standstill on Wednesday morning, as the unrest at the La Jonquera border point near Girona entered its third day. Footage on the Spanish side of the border shows protesters burning tires and blocking the road with trees, tires, …

Spanish authorities are preparing for protests by supporters of Catalan independence on the eve of Spain’s Nov. 10 general election that could turn violent, government and Socialist Party sources said. The comments from two senior sources echoed a report in El Mundo newspaper that quoted police sources as saying plans …

The fifth day of protests and a general strike have brought Barcelona to a halt amid ongoing fury over jailed Catalan separatist leaders. Tens of thousands of demonstrators entered the city on Friday, stopping trains and blocking roads. Barcelona and Real Madrid football teams postponed a match they were due …

Angry protests erupt across Catalonia against a decision by Spain’s top court to sentence several Catalonia leaders to up to 13 years behind bars for sedition over their role in an independence referendum back in 2017. Spain’s Supreme Court on Monday sentenced nine separatist leaders from Catalonia to between nine …