Catalan separatists again block Spain-France motorway

Catalan separatists have once again blocked a major motorway linking Spain and France to try to draw international attention to the Catalan independence issue.

Hundreds of activists on Tuesday blocked the AP7 motorway in Girona, Catalonia's transport authority said, hours after French and Catalan police dispersed a group that blocked that same highway at a border point between France and Spain for over 24 hours.

Sixteen Spanish nationals were arrested in the operation to clear the motorway but no one was injured, a spokeswoman for the security department of the eastern French Pyrenees said.

On Monday, hundreds of separatists shut down the busy motorway between France and Spain at the border in protest over the sentencing last month of nine of their leaders to lengthy jail terms.

Demonstrators also blocked the AP8 motorway linking Spain and France on Tuesday night at a border point in Irun in Spain's northern Basque Country, a region with a long history of separatism, local officials said.

The demonstrators parked their cars on the highway and stood beside them, causing lengthy tailbacks. Many waved Catalan or Basque flags, images on Spanish TV showed.

Hundreds of chanting Catalan separatists also blocked key streets in Barcelona, the Catalan capital, such as the Gran Via.

The protests closures come after a general election in Spain on Sunday in which the far-right Vox party made gains on the strength of its hardline stance against Catalan separatism.