Catalan Pro-Independence Activists Rallying During Prime Minister-Regional Head Talks

MADRID (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st December, 2018) Members of Catalan radical pro-independence movement Committees for the Defence of the Republic held a rally in Barcelona during a meeting between the regional government head, Quim Torra, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, as broadcast by local tv channels.

The protesters had blocked Avinguda Diagonal, one of Barcelona's key avenues, in the vicinity of a hotel where an official event and dinner is scheduled to be held later on Thursday, the 24 Horas broadcaster showed. The hotel is located in the vicinity of the Palau Reial de Pedralbes, where the meeting between Sanchez and Torra is underway.

The demonstrators are chanting "Occupation Powers Go Away" and "Independence."

Security measures have been tightened in the area with additional law enforcement officers dispatched there.

Another rally is being held in front of the Palau Reial de Pedralbes on Thursday.

The Spanish authorities decided to carry out a weekly session of the council of ministers, scheduled for Thursday, in Barcelona instead of Madrid, where it is traditionally held, despite the warnings of protests on the part of pro-independence activists. Moreover, Sanchez and Torra decided to hold a separate meeting which was also attended by several officials from the Spanish central government and the Catalan regional parliament.

Catalan pro-independence activists have repeatedly held rallies after the Spanish central authorities refused to recognize the results of the October 2017 independence vote, subsequently dissolving the regional parliament and introducing the direct rule over Catalonia.

At the referendum, which was doomed illegal by Madrid, over 90 percent of the voters supported Catalonia's secession from Spain.