Mayor calls for calm after riots in Barcelona

The mayor of riot-stricken Barcelona has called for calm after violent protests by Catalan separatists rocked Spain’s second largest city once again.

Mayor Ada Colau said: “This cannot continue. Barcelona does not deserve it”.

Ms Colau said Friday’s violence was worse than that of the four preceding nights.

Protesters have been angered by Monday’s Spanish supreme court verdict that sentenced nine separatist leaders to prison.

Radical separatists have clashed with police each night in Barcelona and other Catalan cities following large peaceful protests.

Authorities said more than 400 people have been hurt, roughly half of them police officers, while around 150 arrests have been made.

Outnumbered police used tear gas and water cannons to battle rioters in the popular tourist city.

Chaotic scenes of violence erupted after more than a half-million protesters, including families with children, marched in the Catalan capital, according to local police.

Many were clad in pro-independence Estelada flags and shouting: “Independence!” “Freedom for political prisoners!”

Some of them had walked for three days in five large “freedom marches” from towns across the northeastern Spanish region. They converged on Barcelona and joined students and workers who also took to the streets during a 24-hour general strike.

Rights group Amnesty International called on “all authorities to refrain from contributing to the escalation of tensions” in the streets and to respond “proportionally” to outbreaks of violence.

Tourists also felt the turmoil. At least two large cruise operators diverted their ships to other ports, and those which had already docked cancelled their passengers’ excursions to the city.

Architect Antoni Gaudi’s modernist Sagrada Familia also closed its doors.