BARCELONA will go on STRIKE in protest at the Catalan independence referendum.
The club will close tomorrow (Tuesday) and the players will not be expected to turn in for training.
The club said in a statement today (Monday): “FC Barcelona joins the country wide strike called for by Table for Democracy and therefore the club will be closed tomorrow.
“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.
The unions calling for the strike said: “We strongly condemn the violence carried out by the state’s security forces to impede the October 1 referendum.”
The result of the referendum, deemed ‘illegal’ by the Spanish government, revealed that 90 per cent had voted for independence from Spain.
In light of the incidents, Barca played their match against Las Palmas behind closed doors on Sunday.
Barca 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 Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique, who has been an outspoken defender of Catalonia’s right to self-determination, wouldn’t have trained with Barca on Tuesday in any case as they are on international duty with their respective nations.
Sunsport reported earlier today how Barcelona will complain to Fifa and Uefa after they were forced by La Liga to play their home game against Las Palmas.
As tension rose over the weekend and violence erupted in Catalonia over the independence referendum, Barca requested to postpone their league game.
But La Liga representatives threatened the club with a six-point deduction if they failed to play the fixture.
It led to the Catalan club hosting Las Palmas behind closed doors, with 98,000 empty seats on view.
Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu told Catalunya Radio that he will take his complaint to the highest echelons in world football.
He said: “We will ask for explanations because it is incomprehensible that they did not agree to suspend the game.
“We will take this as far as we can and there will be consequences.”
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