MADRID (Reuters) – Pro-Palestinian protesters repeatedly halted cyclists and clashed with police during the final leg of the Vuelta a Espana cycle race on Sunday evening in a demonstration against Israeli participation.
Images on local TV station RTVE showed protesters overturning metal barriers and occupying the race route at several points as police attempted to push them back.
They threw barricades into the middle of the street on Gran Via, one of the city’s main thoroughfares through which the race had been due to pass.
The clashes came hours after the country’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he admired the pro-Palestinian protesters whose activities along the race route led some riders to threaten to quit the competition last week.
With large demonstrations anticipated, more than 1,000 police officers had been deployed on Sunday as cyclists reached the final stage of the 21-day race in Madrid.
The protests, which have targeted the Israel-Premier Tech team over Israel’s actions in Gaza, have disrupted several stages of the race, which was due to end at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT).
“Today marks the end of the Vuelta,” Sanchez told a Socialist party rally in the southern city of Malaga. “Our respect and recognition for the athletes and our admiration for the Spanish people who are mobilising for just causes like Palestine.”
(Reporting by Guillermo Martinez and Graham Keeley, writing by Aislinn Laing; Editing by Helen Popper and Andrew Cawthorne)
