Police in Spain said Wednesday they arrested 51 people across Catalonia overnight after violent protests over the jailing of nine separatist leaders for their role in a failed 2017 independence bid.

Catalan separatists on Tuesday blocked streets and train tracks in protest against Spain's jailing of nine of their leaders, a day after activists stormed Barcelona airport in an angry response to the verdict. 

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Monday it was time to turn the page in relations with Catalonia following the sentencing of 12 of its leaders over their role in the failed 2017 independence bid. 

Spain's King Felipe VI began meeting parliamentary leaders Monday in an eleventh-hour bid to form a government and head off what would be the country's fourth elections in as many years. 

Spain's Pedro Sanchez has just nine days left to resolve a political crisis that could drag the country to its fourth elections in as many years. Everything hinges on him securing support from the far-left Podemos.

The death toll from torrential rains and floods in southeastern Spain rose to three on Friday after a man drowned when his car became trapped in a tunnel, local authorities said.

Spain is struggling to accommodate thousands of young migrants who over the years have arrived alone on rickety boats or hidden in trucks, some of whom have ended up on the streets or even become involved in crime.

Spanish deputies began debating Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez's proposed programme Monday, with observers still unsure whether he has won enough support to form another government.

Temperatures in France are expected to reach a record-breaking high on Friday, as Europe continues to endure a sweltering heatwave which sparked an out-of-control wildfire in Spain. 

Governments warned citizens to take extra precautions, with the week-long heatwave causing a build-up of pollution and fears of an increase in emergency calls across Europe. 

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialists have won snap elections without the necessary majority to govern solo in a fragmented political landscape marked by the far-right's entry into parliament.

The results raise the spectre of another period of instability for Spain, with Sanchez depending on alliances with hostile rivals in an environment that has soured since Catalonia's failed secession bid in 2017.