La Liga: Barcelona to halt club activities in protest against violent crackdown on Catalan referendum activists

Barcelona: Barcelona will join a strike called across Catalonia on Tuesday in protest at a violent crackdown by police of an independence referendum called by pro-separatist politicians for the region on Sunday. “FC Barcelona joins the countrywide strike called for by Table for Democracy and therefore the club will be closed tomorrow,” Barcelona said in a statement on Monday. [caption id=“attachment_4101441” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu. Reuters[/caption] “None of the professional teams or the youth teams at FC Barcelona will train tomorrow.” Clashes as police fired rubber bullets and forced their way into polling stations, often violently removing activists, to confiscate ballots left at least 92 people confirmed injured out of a total of 844 who needed medical attention, according to Catalan authorities. “We strongly condemn the violence carried out by the state’s security forces to impede the 1 October referendum,” said a 44-strong group of organisations, including leading unions, in calling the strike. In light of the incidents, Barcelona played their match against Las Palmas behind closed doors on Sunday. Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu said the club made the decision as a protest against the violent clashes rather than security concerns. The vast majority of Barcelona’s stars, including five-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique, who has been an outspoken defender of Catalonia’s right to self-determination, wouldn’t have trained with Barcelona on Tuesday in any case as they are on international duty with their respective nations.