High-speed-rail lines blocked, roads cut

Thousands of people were affected by yesterday’s protest actions that led to cuts in rail traffic, both at the Girona and Barcelona Sants high-speed-rail railway stations and several commuter lines.

Railway lines at Girona were occupied for most of the day by thousands and only three of the morning’s trains were able to pass through before five hundred people managed to break the police cordons and descend to the platforms. The station was finally evacuated at 8.30pm.

In Barcelona protesters, mainly students, occupied lines in Sants from mid-afternoon onwards. They offered sterner resistance to the Mossos when they tired to block the entrance to the station from other protesters jeering: “You are also the forces of occupation.” There were also moments of tension between passengers and protesters. Adif closed the station at 7.30 pm and requested that the police evacuate the protesters.

The main roads in to Barcelona were cut yesterday morning as were several national roads and highways at points leading in and out of Catalonia. Near the border with France, lorries were trapped in queues of up to 15 kilometres on the AP7 motorway. Police asked the protesters to clear the road late afternoon but a small group remained and were forcibly removed.