SPANISH police fired rubber bullets and swung truncheons to disperse anti-crisis protesters in a Barcelona square today after cleaning crews cleared their tent camp.
Catalan police in anti-riot gear moved in after about 50 protesters sat down on the street to block cleaning trucks leaving Plaza de Cataluna square to remove remnants of the encampment.
Police, some with plastic shields, were shown on television dragging protesters along the street and swiping with truncheons at activists, who had been chanting: "They shall not pass."
An AFP reporter at the scene saw rubber bullets fired.
The protest blockade broke up within minutes and cleaning crews carried on the work under police surveillance.
Ten cleaning lorries parked in the square as city workers dismantled the last tents.
About 100 protesters had regrouped in the centre of the square.
SPANISH police fired rubber bullets and swung truncheons to disperse anti-crisis protesters in a Barcelona square today after cleaning crews cleared their tent camp.
Catalan police in anti-riot gear moved in after about 50 protesters sat down on the street to block cleaning trucks leaving Plaza de Cataluna square to remove remnants of the encampment.
Police, some with plastic shields, were shown on television dragging protesters along the street and swiping with truncheons at activists, who had been chanting: "They shall not pass."
An AFP reporter at the scene saw rubber bullets fired.
The protest blockade broke up within minutes and cleaning crews carried on the work under police surveillance.
Ten cleaning lorries parked in the square as city workers dismantled the last tents.
About 100 protesters had regrouped in the centre of the square.
They were surrounded by two police cordons blocking hundreds more people from entering the square from nearby roads. Demonstrators chanted: "The people, united, will never be defeated!" and "No to violence!"
Five people were taken to hospital, mostly for multiple bruises, after the clashes with riot police, said a Catalan emergency medical services spokeswoman.
A total 43 people including one police officer were treated, mostly for light injuries including psychological shock.
"Their cleaning has washed up blood, people bleeding from the head," said a comment on the Barcelona protest’s page "acampadabcn" on Twitter.
The police action was the first attempt to clear demonstrators from a nationwide movement that began May 15 and grew in city squares across the country.
Police said they had to clear the encampment in case Barcelona beat Manchester United in the Champions League football finals in Wembley on Saturday and the square is needed for celebrations.
They also swooped on an encampment in Lleida, in the same northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia, where the Plaza Ricard Vinyes was cleared for possible football celebrations.
"Once the cleaning is finished they can go back but without the tents, knives and potentially dangerous objects," a police spokeswoman said in Barcelona earlier.
Activists vowed to return.
"They are making us leave because of the match but we will come back again here or elsewhere because our match is more important," said Albert Bonet, 42-year-old artist who is part of the protest.
The demonstrators are known variously as "the indignant", "M-15" after the birth date of their movement, and "Spanish Revolution".
Mostly young, they have gathered in city squares across Spain in peaceful protests to decry mainstream political parties, soaring unemployment, corruption and welfare cuts.
At the vanguard of the rallies in Madrid, protesters remained camped in the central square Puerta del Sol but in smaller numbers than at the peak just before Spain’s May 22 general elections.
In the municipal and regional polls, voters punished the ruling Socialist Party for the grim economy and handed a huge victory to the conservative opposition Popular Party.
Madrid protesters say they plan to decide Sunday how to carry on the movement.
