Second day of Catalan protests blocking road links to France - VilaWeb https://english.vilaweb.cat/noticies/tsunami-democratic-activists-block-highway-to-france-and-isolate-spain/feed/ Fri, 11 Nov 2022 11:01:50 +0000 ca hourly 1 Second day of Catalan protests blocking road links to France https://english.vilaweb.cat/noticies/tsunami-democratic-activists-block-highway-to-france-and-isolate-spain/ Tue, 12 Nov 2019 13:36:01 +0000 Protests at Catalonia’s border with France continued for a second straight day on Tuesday, as pro-independence activists pressured Spain into negotiating a solution to the Catalan conflict. At least 19 people were arrested by Catalan and French police, after officers cleared the AP-7 highway, which had been blocked from Monday morning. Further protests were later called at the N-II road and the Basque Country by the group behind the occupation, Tsunami Democràtic, an anonymous network promoting civil disobedience in response to the imprisonment of Catalan independence leaders.

On Monday, Tsunami Democràtic blocked the AP-7 highway near the French border as part of a protest aimed at being a “call to the international community.” The highway was cut in both directions during the early morning, as the anonymous collective of activists began their three days of protest, in what they describe as their “most ambitious” action to date.

Shortly after the cut, protestors started building a stage in the middle of the highway.

Protesters were urged to take part in the blocking of the AP-7 either with car or without, as Tsunami Democràtic aims for a “massive” mobilization of people.  According to the activists, the Spanish state “made it clear” that if the people put their bodies on the line to defend their rights, Spain “will respond with direct police violence against people.”

Tsunami Democràtic were responsible for the occupation of Barcelona airport on the day the verdict of the trial of the independence leaders was released, on October 14. “In the action at the Barcelona airport, it was more than clear,” the call to action from the protest group reads. For this reason, the movement proposes changing “the body to the vehicle,” meaning to block the border with cars rather than only gathered people, and by being “massive, effective and precise”, exercising “rights” and deactivating “violent repression.”

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