The nine pro-independence jailed leaders left the prisons in Catalonia where they had been incarcerated for the last seven months on Friday morning. They started their journey towards Madrid region penitentiaries in preparation for the trial against them, to be held in the Spanish capital.

The jailed leaders where in three Catalan prisons and around 6am the Catalan police moved them all to one, Brians II, where the Spanish Guardia Civil police is due to take over their guard to transfer them all in one vehicle to two Madrid centers.

In Brians II several members of the Catalan government led by the president, Quim Torra, were waiting for them from the early morning to support them before they leave Catalonia for the trial, whose start date is still unknown.  Hundreds of people rallied outside the prisons to support them, and some unsuccessfully tried to cut the roads in order to avoid them being moved.