Catalonia's parliament stripped the head of the region's pro-independence government of his rights as a regional lawmaker on Monday, angering supporters who scuffled with police outside the assembly.
Michelle Hennessy reports.
Violent protests return to Barcelona
Violence returned to the streets of Barcelona Monday (January 27) night.
Catalan separatists set bins alight and hurled glass bottles at riot police in the city center.
The more extreme protesters joined hundreds of peaceful demonstrators as night fell.
They are angry after Quim Torra - the head of the region's pro-independence government - was stripped of his rights as a regional lawmaker.
Torra had previously been handed an 18-month ban from public office for refusing to remove symbols of Catalan independence from government buildings.
The Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent said they had to comply with a Spanish Supreme Court ruling.
(SOUNDBITE) (Catalan) CATALAN REGIONAL PARLIAMENT SPEAKER, ROGER TORRENT, SAYING: "Parliament cannot stop being an efficient body at the service of citizens, but it also cannot conform to an unjustifiable decision which it will work to try to revert." For now Torra is unable to vote in parliament, but he still remains head of the Catalan government.