Spanish cabinet meeting to be held in Barcelona amid protests

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will hold a cabinet meeting in Barcelona on Friday (December 21) amid tight security as Catalan pro-independence groups plan to hold protests and block roads in the region.

Pedro Sánchez, whose Socialist administration has taken a more conciliatory approach to the independence issue than its conservative predecessor, was due to meet Quim Torra late on Thursday afternoon.

Secessionists have claimed the cabinet’s choice of meeting in Barcelona, exactly a year after the vote called by the previous Spanish government, which seized control of the region following a unilateral independence referendum and subsequent independence declaration, was deliberate and provocative.

In protest, the powerful grassroots separatist organization ANC, which has previously staged massive pro-independence street demonstrations in Barcelona, urged its supporters to block the streets of the Catalan capital with their vehicles.

A radical grassroots group, the Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDRs), also plans to meet near the palace where the cabinet meeting will be held. Its members have clashed with police in the past.

"We will be ungovernable on Dec 1," the group said in a tweet, accompanied by a picture of Spain's King Felipe VI on fire.

Pro-independence groups are also planning to march through the streets of Barcelona on Friday afternoon after the meeting which will get underway at 10 am local time (0900 GMT).

Tight security is expected to cordon off the palace where the Spanish government will gather.

Separatists are still reeling from the steps Spain's central government took to block Catalonia's independence bid.

While a majority of Catalans favoured an independence referendum if it was jointly agreed to by Madrid and Barcelona, separatist parties have never managed to take 50% of the vote in the regional parliament.

Last year the three separatist parties won 47% of the vote and a total of 70 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament. The centre-right, pro-unionist Citizens party was the single biggest winner, taking 37 seats and 25% of the vote.