Tension in Barcelona as protesters mark Catalan vote anniversary

(1 Oct 2018) Tensions rose between police and protesters in Barcelona on Monday evening after supporters of Catalonian secession from Spain marched in large numbers to mark the anniversary of a referendum that was part of a thwarted bid for independence last year. The evening march in the region's capital drew what local police estimated was a crowd of 180,000 people. A spontaneous spin-off demonstration produced a tense face-off between police and lingering protesters, capping a day of noisy and largely non-violent demonstrations. The anniversary of the event that sparked Spain's gravest political crisis in decades was marked by a fractured Catalan independence movement amid delicate talks on the region's future with the country's the centre-left Socialist government. Last year's Oct. 1 referendum in Catalonia, ruled illegal by a court, was stopped by Spanish police and failed in its bid to produce a separate Catalan state. For many Catalans, the vote has become a symbol of their long fight for self-determination. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...