Demonstrators block motorways in second night of protests
Wednesday, March 28, 2018 @ 10:56 PM
ANOTHER night of protests has swept across Catalunya in response to former president Carles Puigdemont's arrest in Germany – this time with three motorways being blocked.
Throughout the day and right up until late evening, the AP-7 motorway close to the French border was barricaded by demonstrators, as was the A-2 motorway and the N-340 inter-provincial highway in Alcanar (Tarragona province).
Police did not succeed in reopening them until past 19.00 last night.
Bearing riot shields and truncheons, officers forced over 200 demonstrators off the A-2 through Soses and in Alcarràs (Lleida province), where they had been since the morning, pushing them onto the hard shoulder.
Several hundred more barricaded the N-340 in both directions in L'Ampolla and Alcanar for most of the evening, forcing police to set up a traffic diversion via the N-235.
After the A-2 and N-340 were reopened, some time around 19.00, protesters blockaded the AP-7 motorway in L'Ampolla with a slow march on foot in the Barcelona direction, causing a tailback of over two kilometres.
The motorway was not clear again for at least another two hours, or some time after 21.00.
Protesters had already blocked the AP-7 in Figueres (Girona) in the morning and police took until 14.15 to move them on, although they moved straight onto the N-11 in Ller, which was shut for several hours.
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