Police, Protesters Clash in Catalonia For 3rd Night

Rioting raged in Barcelona and several other Catalan towns for a third straight night Wednesday, with police fighting running street battles with protesters angered by lengthy prison sentences for nine leaders of the wealthy region's drive for independence from Spain.

Tens of thousands of protesters faced off against police in Barcelona. Some set up flaming barricades in the streets, torching cars and trash cans. They chanted, "The streets will always be ours!"

Catalan police said protesters threw gasoline bombs, stones, bottles and firecrackers at them.

Violence erupted in Catalonia after Spain's Supreme Court on Monday sentenced nine separatist Catalan leaders to up to 13 years in prison for their part in an October 2017 effort to declare independence for the region.

After a surge in separatist sentiment since the global economic crisis that hit Spain particularly hard, around half of Catalonia's 7.5 million residents want to break away from Spain and forge a new European country. The divisive issue has divided families and friends, but demonstrations had largely been peaceful until this week.

Outnumbered police used riot helmets, vests and shields for protection. They fired foam bullets and swung batons to keep away the swarming radicals, most of who covered their faces. Police also drove armored vans at high speeds to scatter the crowds.

When police succeeded in dispersing one hot spot, another erupted.

One police helicopter was hit by five "pyrotechnic" objects similar to fireworks, according to the regional police force. The rare passers-by or tourists caught in the middle of the melees scurried to safety. Some residents tossed water from balconies down on burning trash bins and debris while firefighters tried to keep up with the emergencies.

Central Barcelona, a leading tourist destination known for its beautiful architecture and relaxed atmosphere, became a no-go territory.

"(This is) shameful. It doesn't represent me," architect Gerard Beltri said. "I think the verdict was very bad, but I think this (violence) is by a minority of the independence movement. The real independence movement is not like this. These people only want to do damage and that's it."

Health services in Catalonia said medics attended to 52 people in the region Wednesday. Police said late Wednesday that they had arrested "at least 20 people" throughout Catalonia for violent acts.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S�nchez said the violent clashes wouldn't provoke him into taking drastic measures in Catalonia, despite calls by rival parties to crack down on the separatist politicians in power in the region.

S�nchez, who is an interim prime minister while awaiting national elections Nov. 10, consulted with other national political leaders in Madrid during the day about the trouble in Catalonia.

The Spanish government will respond with "firmness, calmness and unity" to the confrontations, S�nchez said in a televised address.

S�nchez blamed "organized groups of extremists" for the rioting but said he wouldn't be drawn into playing their game of an "ascending spiral of violence."

The protests followed the pattern of previous days as crowds gathered during the day to block roads and hold marches demanding independence. After sunset, marches turned ugly.

Police also reported clashes in Girona, a town near the French border, and other places.

The clashes have injured more than 250 people, including police, over the past three days. On Monday police skirmished for hours to keep protesters from entering the Barcelona airport and shutting it down.

An organization representing Barcelona businesses, called Barcelona Abierta, said the violence had caused "significant losses" and "deeply damaged" its image abroad. Tourism is vital to the city's economy.

Pere Ferrer, director of Catalonia's regional police, said the street violence was "intolerable."

Other protests are scheduled in the coming days as separatists vow no letup in their secession drive.

Most impromptu protesters have responded to an online campaign by Tsunami Democratic, a shadowy grassroots group that uses encrypted messaging apps to call for peaceful disobedience.

Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told Cadena SER radio that authorities were investigating the group and "close to" discovering who is behind it.

On Wednesday, the group issued a statement appealing for an end to the violence.

During a daytime lull in the rioting, thousands of people set off Wednesday on five large peaceful protest marches across Catalonia that aim to converge in Barcelona on Friday.

They included families with children, elderly and young people, and banners reading "Libertat Presos Politics" (Freedom for political prisoners) – a reference to the 12 leaders sentenced by the Supreme Court.

Catalan regional president Quim Torra, a fervent separatist who critics have called a xenophobe, joined one of the marches, saying he wanted to be next to the people.

After three days of ignoring calls to criticize the street violence in the region he governs, Torra bent to the pressure late Wednesday and called for the unrest to stop.

"I make a call for calm and serenity. We separatists have not been and are not violent," he said in a brief and hurriedly organized televised statement. "This must stop right now."

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Associated Press writers Aritz Parra in Madrid, Bernat Armangue in Navas and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed to this report.
Oct 16, 2019 9:56PM (GMT 01:56) - 1061 words

By Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick And Matt Lee Associated Press

Eds: Corrects 'third-grade' in 12th paragraph. With BC-US--Impeachment-Senate Trial Preview. With AP Photos. AP Video. AP Audio.

WASHINGTON – The swift-moving impeachment probe pushed onward Wednesday as a former top State Department aide testified that the Trump administration's politicization of foreign policy contributed to his resignation, while the Senate GOP leader briefed colleagues on a possible Christmas impeachment trial.

The day's events, interrupted by an explosive meeting at the White House, churned as longtime State Department officials are speaking out under subpoena – some revealing striking new details – about the actions Trump, and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, took toward Ukraine that have sparked the House impeachment inquiry.

On Wednesday, Michael McKinley, a career foreign service officer and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's de facto chief of staff, told investigators behind closed doors that he could no longer look the other way amid the Trump administration's dealings with Ukraine, which were among the reasons he ended his 37-year career last week, according to multiple people familiar with the testimony, who, like others who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, were not authorized to discuss it.

"I was disturbed by the implication that foreign governments were being approached to procure negative information on political opponents," McKinley testified, according to a former colleague familiar with his remarks.

The impeachment inquiry revolves around a whistleblower's complaint that Trump was pushing Ukraine's leader into opening an investigation of a company connected to the son of Trump's potential 2020 Democratic rival Joe Biden. It is illegal to solicit or receive foreign help in a U.S. election.

Among McKinley's concerns was the administration's failure to support Ukrainian Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, who was ousted in March on orders from Trump.

McKinley, who as a Latin America expert was not specifically involved in Ukraine, was also frustrated that there had been no response to an August inspector general's report that found significant evidence of leadership and management problems, including allegations from career employees that Assistant Secretary of State Kevin Moley and his former senior adviser Marie Stull retaliated or tried to retaliate against them as holdovers from the Obama administration.

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told reporters outside the closed-door hearing that McKinley was complimentary about Pompeo's role but did raise other issues.

"I think most of this is a concern by a colleague for an ambassador that he held in high regard," Meadows said, declining to provide more details of the closed session.

Republicans are crying foul over the process of the impeachment inquiry, but as House Democrats press on with the investigation, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell briefed Republicans about the possible trial ahead.

McConnell warned of a possible House impeachment vote by Thanksgiving that would force a trial in the Senate, likely by Christmas. He used slides and history lessons during a private Senate GOP lunch in the Capitol to talk about the process, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

At the White House, congressional leaders abruptly ended an explosive meeting with the president on the situation in Syria, when Trump called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a "third-grade politician," according to Democrats. Pelosi said later the president was having a "meltdown."

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he knows his House colleagues didn't run for office to conduct an impeachment investigation, but he said, "The facts that are already in the public domain are so deeply troubling and must be taken very seriously."

Another key figure in the impeachment investigation, special envoy Kurt Volker, returned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to review the transcript of his Oct. 3 testimony to investigators, according to a person familiar with his appearance.

Volker provided text messages to lawmakers that revealed an effort at the State Department to push Ukraine's leader into opening an investigation of the gas company Burisma connected to Biden's son, Hunter, in return for a visit with Trump.

That effort soon escalated into what one diplomat feared was a quid pro quo for U.S. military aid. Trump has denied that, saying assistance to Ukraine was delayed to pressure the country into addressing corruption.

Another ambassador involved in those text message exchanges, Gordon Sondland, has been asked to appear Thursday.

The testimony so far from the witnesses, mainly officials from the State Department and other foreign policy posts, largely corroborates the account of the government whistleblower whose complaint first sparked the impeachment inquiry, according to lawmakers attending the closed-door interviews.

One witness said it appeared "three amigos" tied to the White House –Sondland, Volker and Energy Secretary Rick Perry – had taken over foreign policy. Another quoted national security adviser John Bolton as calling Giuliani a "hand grenade" for his back-channel efforts to get Ukraine to investigate Biden and Biden's son Hunter.

Trump's July 25 phone call in which he pressed Ukraine's president , Volodymr Zelenskiy, to investigate Biden's family is at the center of the Democrats' inquiry.

Pelosi, despite intensifying calls from Trump and Republicans to hold a formal vote to authorize the impeachment inquiry, showed no indication she would do so. She said Congress will continue its investigation as part of the Constitution's system of checks and balances of the executive branch.

"This is not a game for us. This is deadly serious. We're on a path that is taking us, a path to the truth," Pelosi told reporters Tuesday.

Trump calls the impeachment inquiry an "illegitimate process" and has blocked officials from cooperating.

At the same time, Republicans are bracing for a vote and trial. House GOP Whip Steve Scalise invited GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was an impeachment manager decades ago during President Bill Clinton's impeachment, to brief Republican lawmakers on the process ahead.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee overseeing the probe, has praised the State Department officials for stepping forward, under subpoena, to shed light on the matter.

"We have learned much of this thanks to the courageous testimony of the State Department officials who have been put in an impossible situation by the administration," which is urging them not to comply with requests to testify to Congress, he said. "They are doing their duty."

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Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo, Andrew Taylor, Matthew Daly, Colleen Long, Padmananda Rama, Eric Tucker and Alan Fram in Washington contributed to this report.