Social entities demand explanations over police's 'indiscriminate' use of pepper spray

Several social organizations have demanded explanations from Catalonia's Interior Ministry and the Mossos d'Esquadra police force over the "indiscriminate" use of pepper spray last Wednesday.

Police used pepper spray to clear protesters blocking the team buses of the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team outside Sants Station on Wednesday afternoon, during the day's general strike in solidarity with Palestine. 

Activists, trade union members, and lawyers consider the police action against demonstrators who had sat peacefully to block the buses "disproportionate."

They assure that the police officers commited serious violations of citizens' rights and broke police protocols.

The Israeli team were due to play a fixture against Baxi Manresa on Wednesday evening.

At around 4.45 pm, a crowd gathered outside a hotel near Barcelona's main train station behind a banner reading "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."

A group of 20 to 30 demonstrators sat down blocking a road near the train station.

After initially letting them sit, Catalan police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, then suddenly rushed to move the crowd, pushing them with batons and using pepper spray. 

With the protesters dispersed, the Hapoel Jerusalem buses drove by.

"We were sitting on the ground, huddled together, and they lined up in front of us and started pushing toward us," two demonstrators told Catalan News.

"They said twice, 'Come on, please, step back,' but after the 10-second warning they hit us with the pepper spray anyway," Alba said.

"We were in the second row. There wasn’t even time to see that they were using pepper spray. We got it full on," Max added.

"From there, it was just a scramble to find somewhere to avoid being trampled. I actually got hit hard on the way," he said.