Spanish police say they have foiled a plot to flood the route of stage 3 of the Vuelta a España with hundreds of litres of engine oil.
Four pro-Catalan independence activists were arrested on Saturday and their homes were searched over the alleged sabotage attempt. The activists allegedly planned to pour the oil via tubes protruding from makeshift barrels, hidden in bushes on a bridge that overlooked the Vuelta route.
Last week grassroots Catalan separatist groups had called for protests against the Vuelta a España. The race has spent four days in Catalonia. A poll in January indicated around 40% of the Catalan population support independence from Spain.
Some groups, like the pro-independence movement Omnium, had appealed for straightforward demonstrations against the Vuelta "to make the Catalan political conflict visible in the world."
Demonstrations were equally lowkey on Sunday, with a handful of separatists braving heavy rain at the start of stage 2 in Mataró to wave a 'Catalonia is not Spain' sign. When both stages 3 and stage 4 headed across some major separatist areas in inland Catalonia, many villages had - perhaps intentionally - bedecked the streets through which the route passed with Catalan flags, but there were no attempts to block the race or any sign of major demonstrations.
