Police today briefly held three members of the public after an incident at the end of the morning's hearings in the Catalan independence trial in Spain's Supreme Court. Two young people shouted "strength" and "pit i collons" (an idiom to wish courage) to the prisoners. A third person, a woman wearing a yellow armband, was held after she'd already left the courtroom. Later, once all three had been identified, they were allowed to leave.
The incident took place as the audience was leaving the room. The two young people, a man and a woman, gave a raised fist salute to the prisoners. The police, as normal, were blocking the members of the public present from approaching the defendants.
Unable to speak to them or shake their hands, the two young people then chose to shout the slogans. Clearly audible around the room, the presiding judge, Manuel Marchena, called for them to be identified and removed.
Officers escorted them from the chamber and they were then held for identification in a part of the corridor used by the prisoners, closed to the public and the press. Having also stopped the other individual outside the court, the police then took all three of them away. A short while later, after identification, they were allowed to leave the buidling. They won't be able to attend any further hearings during the trial.
This is the first incident there's been inside the chamber since the trial started in February.