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Today's arrests of nine pro-independence activists around Catalonia have sparked a new wave of protests. Close to 4,000 people this evening filled plaça Sant Roc in Sabadell, the city near Barcelona where four of the nine were arrested.

The demonstrations, organised by the CDR (Committees for Defence of the Republic), saw protesters shouting slogans like "release the detainees" and "out, forces of occupation" and holding signs with messages like "we'll do it again" and "the repression doesn't stop us". A manifesto was also read out in Sabadell condemning today's searches by the Civil Gaurd.

Plaça Sant Roc in Sabadell

The rally then moved towards the nearby property where one of the detainees was still present as it was being searched by officers.

Protests around Catalonia

Besides the main demonstration in Sabadell, almost forty others were organised around Catalonia. In Barcelona, some 300 protesters sat in the street outside the main Civil Guard building in the city on Travessera de Gràcia, shouting slogans against the gendarmerie and the Catalan police, the Mossos, who created a security cordon around the building.

Manifestacio Barcelona detenció CDR terrorisme - Carlota Camps

Protesters in Barcelona / Photo: Carlota Camps

In Vic, a stage was set up in the town's plaça Major. Demonstrators shouted slogans supporting all those arrested today, especially Txevi, taken into custody in nearby Sant Vicenç de Torelló.

In Lleida, one rally of some 300 people was centered outside the Spanish government's subdelegation to the province under the motto "your repression, our solidarity". They later headed to join the weekly demonstration in plaça Paeria where there were some 700 others calling for the release of pro-independence figures in prison and in exile.

There were also protests in some of the other places where the police carried out searches today, like Cerdanyola, Mollet del Vallès and Santa Perpètua de Mogoda. In the latter town, family members of Ferran, one of those arrested today, were embraced by relatives of the president of Òmnium Cultural, Jordi Cuixart, who has been held in provisional detention since 2017.