Separatists clash with police in Barcelona after huge rally

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Police and violent protesters in Spain's restive Catalonia region clashed Saturday after a massive rally in Barcelona against the imprisonment of nine separatist leaders for their roles in an illegal 2017 secession bid.

The flare-up in violence came after a week of tense calm without major incidents following six days when Catalonia was rocked by riots each night after the Oct. 14 Supreme Court verdict that found 12 Catalan leaders guilty of sedition and other crimes. That outbreak led to 500 people, nearly half of them police, being injured and around 200 arrests.

Hundreds of mostly masked youths surrounded the National Police headquarters in downtown Barcelona and threw colorful plastic balls at the officers on guard. When they switched to raining down rocks and bottles, national police with backup from Catalonia's regional police force charged with batons swinging and fired foam bullets. After a chaotic moment they managed to extend a perimeter while protesters set fire to trash cans in the middle of the streets.

Regional emergency services said 15 people were being treated for injuries as a result of the clashes, including an AP photographer who was hit in the face with a police baton. Catalonia's regional police said one of its officers was serious hurt. At least one person had to be put on a stretcher by medics and taken away in an ambulance.

Unlike the worst of the last week's riots that lasted hours, order was restored relatively quickly.

Earlier on Saturday Barcelona's police said 350,000 people rallied peacefully in the regional capital, many waving pro-independence flags for Catalonia. The rally was organized by the main pro-secession grassroots groups who want to create a new state in the northeastern corner of Spain. There were no repeated incidents in the rally that drew...