BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – Labor unions and grassroots pro-independence groups are urging workers to hold partial or full-day strikes throughout Catalonia to protest alleged brutality by police during a referendum on the region’s secession from Spain that left hundreds of people injured.
The strike call comes as Catalan leaders ponder a possible declaration of independence this week following the referendum that Spain said was illegal and invalid.
Port workers were being called to demonstrate Tuesday outside the regional headquarters of Spain’s ruling Popular Party while firefighters planned a rally outside the Interior Ministry’s regional office in the Catalan capital of Barcelona.
People hit pots with sticks to make noise supporting the vote for Yes in the Sunday, Oct. 1 referendum on the Catalonia region’s independence, in Cornella, outskirts of Barcelona, Spain, Monday, Oct. 2, 2017. Catalan leaders accused Spanish police of brutality and repression while the Spanish government praised the security forces for behaving firmly and proportionately. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Protests were also to be staged outside polling stations where police acted with force to try to prevent Sunday’s poll being held.
Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy gestures before a meeting with Spain’s main opposition Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain, Monday Oct. 2, 2017. Rajoy met with Sanchez to discuss Spain’s options before seeking a parliamentary session to discuss how to confront the country’s most serious crisis in decades after Catalonia’s referendum Sunday on breaking away from Spain.(AP Photo/Paul White)
FILE, In this Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017 photo Independence supporters gather in Barcelona’s main square, Spain. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios, File)
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