Thousands of people took to the streets of Barcelona to mark their sign of protest after Spain’s High Court jailed five Catalan State politicians who were involved in playing a major role in the region’s declaration of Independence.

The protesters on Friday evening carried the flag of Catalan Republic along with signs with slogans shouting “Freedom for Political Prisoners”.

The state of Catalonia declared independence from Spain in October last year after there was friction between the regional and national governments.

The declaration was not recognized by the whole international community.

Following the declaration, Spanish Judge Pablo Llarena ordered detention without bail for Jordi Turull, the president of Catalonia’s regional government. Along with him the Judge passed orders to to arrest without bail, all former regional legislators like Josep Rull, Raul Romeva and Dolors Bassa as well as the ex-president of the parliament, Carme Forcadell.

Llarena also said that an investigation done into their pro-secession moves “has reflected clear insurrection”.

The High Court issued arrest warrants for other six more Catalan politicians.

Following the order many Catalan politicians fled Spain to avoid detention by the authorities. Former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont too fled to Belgium in October of 2017.

The head of the Catalan Republican Left party, Marta Rovira, who was also summoned to the High Court, announced on Friday that she had left Spain to live in exile in Switzerland.

The former Catalan Vice President, Oriol Junqueras, is living in prison since the order in December.

The demonstrators were seen clashing with Catalan police as posted on Social Media. The protesters are called as “Mossos” in Spain.

The Mossos were seen attempting to keep the protesters separated from the Delegation of the Spanish Government in downtown Barcelona.

Some demonstrators also reported injuries, but there were no reports of how many were injured or the severity of wounds inflicted.

The clashes create doubts about Catalonia’s political future.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had in December called for snap elections in Catalonia.

The elections ended up in a repeat of the 2015 poll with the Secessionist parties winning the election that sent Catalonia on the path to its declaration of independence.

But the separatist majority proved to be a failure in electing a regional government in a Thursday vote. In case a government is not formed within two months, another regional election will be held.

Commenting over the issue, Rajoy said on Friday that he is “not in favour of [Catalonia] having repeat elections. It’s not good.”

The prime minster stated that the people of Catalan have voted and now its up to the politicians to settle all their differences by confining themselves to Spanish law, which does not permit secession.

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