Hundreds of chanting demonstrators marched through the streets of Madrid on Thursday to protest against alleged police violence at a large anti-austerity demonstration in the Spanish capital last month.

The protesters accused police of brutality during demonstrations by tens of thousands on March 22.

Spain's Parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a petition by the powerful northeastern Catalonia region to allow an independence referendum, a decision that is likely to increase the divide between both sides.

The request was voted down, 299-47, with one abstention, after nearly seven hours of debate.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Tuesday he "could not conceive of a Catalonia outside of Spain" during a debate in parliament over the region's bid to hold an independence referendum.

"I defend that Catalonia should remain in Spain because I can't conceive of Spain without Catalonia nor of Catalonia outside of Spain and Europe," he told the assembly.

Spanish lawmakers are set to vote Tuesday to shoot down Catalonia's quest for an independence referendum, setting the stage for a bitter sovereignty struggle.

In a showdown in the Spanish parliament, more than 80 percent of lawmakers will reject Catalonia's plan for a November 9 referendum, the national press predicted.

Plans to drill for oil off the Spanish holiday island of Ibiza have met with fierce opposition from locals who fear the white sand beaches and marine life will be damaged.

"Everyone is against it here," said Carlos Bravo of the Blue Sea Alliance, an umbrella organisation of 50 groups including environmentalists, hoteliers and unions, seeking to halt oil exploration off Ibiza and Formentera, a neighbouring island that is only accessible by boat.

A Spanish ex-policeman Thursday fought against extradition to Argentina where a judge wants to try him for alleged torture decades ago during the Franco dictatorship in Spain, a judicial source said.

A federal judge in Argentina has issued an international arrest warrant for Jesus Munecas Aguilar, 75, under a principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows courts to judge certain cases of human rights abuses committed in other countries.

The British government summoned the Spanish ambassador to London on Wednesday to explain a fresh "incursion" by Spanish vessels into Gibraltar's territorial waters.

Ambassador Federico Trillo was hauled in to explain why a Spanish state research vessel and its police escort entered the waters off the tiny British peninsula on Tuesday, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

Claims that the Holy Grail has been found after sitting for 1,000 years in a Spanish church face a tough inquisition from doubtful historians.

Visitors flocked to the museum of the San Isidro basilica in Leon after a new book said it contained the chalice from which Jesus Christ sipped at the Last Supper.

Three fishermen were killed and two were missing after a giant cargo ship crashed into their trawler off northern Spain on Tuesday, officials said.

The Baltic Breeze, a 164-meter (541-foot) vehicle-carrier, collided with the 34-meter Mar de Marin near the Spanish port of Vigo, the local coastguard said.

International dignitaries crowded into Madrid's Almudena Cathedral on Monday for a solemn state funeral to honor Adolfo Suarez, the statesman who led Spain to democracy after the Franco dictatorship.

Foreign government envoys joined Spain's royal family and ministers who arrived at the cathedral under rainy skies along with members of the public to remember Suarez, who died on March 23, aged 81.