Protesters, police clash outside Barcelona-Madrid match

Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Clashes broke out between police and Catalan separatist protesters on the sidelines of the football match facing FC Barcelona with Madrid on Wednesday.

Protesters lit huge fires in the Barcelona streets and threw objects at police. Dozens of videos showed police thrashing protesters with batons and launching foam bullets.

Local media report that nine protesters were arrested.

A total of 64 people were treated for injuries overnight, according to the Catalan emergency services.

In the stadium, Barcelona fans nearly turned the stadium blue with small signs that read --Spain, sit and talk.

Yet, Tsunami Democratic, the anonymous group that organized the protests and is considered a criminal group in Spain, admitted failure because they failed to get a massive sign into the arena with their messaging.

According to the group’s feed on the messaging app Telegram, police action stopped their plan.

The group managed to gather thousands of protesters to surround the stadium -- complicating traffic and the entry and exit into the stadium. However, there were no reported incidents with fans.

The famed “El Clasico” itself was tense and ended with a 0-0 draw. The match was originally scheduled for Oct. 26 but was postponed due to political tension in the region after several separatist politicians and leaders were sentenced to prison.

After the sentencing in October, millions of Catalan separatists took to the streets over several days and nights of disruptive protests where hundreds of protesters and police were injured.