Some 300 'Pícnic per la República' pro-independence activists concentrated in the lobby of Barcelona's Sants train station early Sunday morning in protest against the imminent verdict for the jailed leaders behind the 2017 independence referendum.

Spanish and Catalan police officers had been removing protesters all morning until successfully vacating the lobby of their presence, with many having to be dragged or carried out.

Spanish police have set up a security cordon around the building and are only allowing passengers with tickets for high-speed AVE trains to enter.

Many of the protesters chanted slogans calling for Catalan interior minister Miquel Buch to step down, as well as claiming that they would take similar action again.

After having been kicked out of Sants station, an estimated 2,000 protesters according to the organizers and 700 protesters according to the police blocked off traffic at Plaça Espanya before heading towards Gran Via and Passeig de Gràcia.