^{The Catalan region has seen a wave of, sometimes violent, protests since 14 October}

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Barcelona on Saturday, demanding independence and the release of separatist leaders from prison. But the protest site soon turned into a battleground as clashes between police and militant elements in the crowd became violent.

Projectiles were fired, at least six people were hospitalized with injuries, and barricades were set alight after officers charged ranks of demonstrators – many young and masking their faces – who had gathered outside Spanish police headquarters. 

The violent standoff in the city's tourist heartland offered stark evidence of the faultlines developing between hardline and conciliatory elements within the region's independence movement.

It lasted several hours before protesters dispersed through the city's streets.

Barcelona has witnessed daily pro-secession protests since 14 October, after Spain's Supreme Court sentenced nine politicians and activists to up to 13 years in jail for their role in a failed independence bid in 2017. 

Saturday's protest was not the first marred by violence.

According to local police, earlier in the day before the violence erupted, around 350,000 protesters joined the rally as crowds packed into a wide avenue running between the waterfront and the city's towering Sagrada Familia basilica. 

Marc, a 26-year-old computer technician from Tarragona said: "I feel really angry."

He described the heavy prison sentences handed out to nine separatist leaders as "totally over the top, inhuman, and shameful."

A major football match, scheduled for Saturday, between Barcelona and Real Madrid, El Clasico, has been postponed until 18 December due to the demonstration organized by two major independence groups, the Catalan Regional Assembly and Òmnium Cultural. 

The groups say they are mobilizing for freedom.

But according to a recent survey conducted over the summer, residents in Catalonia remain largely divided over the issue of independence.

Spain's acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has accused violent groups for keeping the Catalan region in a state of crisis. But his Socialist party has faced fierce criticism from right-wing political parties, for not being tough enough on the protestors.

On Monday, Sanchez visited police officers injured in some of the protests. But he didn't meet with Quim Torra, the Catalan regional leader.

The Spanish people head to the polls for a general election on 10 November and the Catalan crisis is expected to weigh heavily on the minds of voters. But some protesters in Barcelona maintain they will continue taking to the streets until all their demands are met.