Counting The Cost Of Three Nights Of Unrest In Catalonia

AFTER three nights of disturbances in Barcelona and other Catalan cities over the jailing of nine independence leaders to up to 13 years in prison, the authorities have begun to assess the damage by releasing figures on the numbers injured and arrested.

According to a statement today (Thursday) from Catalonia’s ambulance service, SEM, it had attended to a total of 346 injured people since Monday, including both protesters and police officers. Of those, 131 received medical attention on Monday, 119 on Tuesday, and 96 on Wednesday.

More than a hundred of the people who required an ambulance on Monday – the day the Supreme Court sentenced the Catalan leaders to prison – were at the protest that brought Barcelona airport to a standstill.

Protesters and police officers have been injured in the unrest in places around Catalonia, but the majority have been in Barcelona.

A number of journalists have also been injured covering the unrest, a total of 21 reporters have been attended with injuries since the protests began on Monday.

Over a hundred people have been arrested. As with the injuries caused in the unrest, most of the arrests have taken place in Barcelona.

The ministry also gave information about the number of police officers injured in the protests, putting the number since Monday at 194.

The unrest has also led to considerable material damage in the places where the protests have taken place, especially in terms of communal rubbish containers that protesters have set on fire to act as barricades in the streets.

Just last night (Wednesday) some 400 plastic containers were burnt in the city, at an estimated cost of half a million euros. Meanwhile, the fire service said it had put out 160 burning barricades and vehicles.

Elsewhere, the Tarragona authorities estimated that the damage caused to rubbish containers in the city amounted to some 150,000 euros, while the Lleida city council put the cost to their city at 80,000 euros.

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Cristina Hodgson

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