BARCELONA: One of the most prominent figures against independence for the Spanish region of Catalonia staged a counter-protest on Sunday after a week of separatist unrest and called for an end to the violence.

Albert Rivera, head of the pro-unionist Ciudadanos party, told hundreds of flag-waving supporters that Spain’s acting Socialist government was not doing enough to end the chaos sparked by the jailing of separatist leaders.

“People can’t take their children to school, they can’t open their businesses,” Barcelona-born Rivera said. “We need a Spanish government that protects the weak.”

Pro-independence supporters have taken to the streets of Barcelona for six days running in often violent confrontations with police that have left several hundred injured and caused $2.8 million of damage.

A policeman and a protester remain in critical condition, Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau said on Sunday, adding that “several people” had been blinded in one eye by police rubber bullets. After unprecedented violence on Friday, demonstrations on Saturday passed off relatively peacefully and the government has said it has the situation under control.

“The riots are diminishing, but we are working on stopping them altogether,” said the acting interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, in his daily update on the situation.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2019