The weekly cabinet meeting usually takes place in Madrid but Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist government decided to hold it in the Catalan capital as part of efforts to reduce tensions.
It appeared to have the opposite effect in some streets of the capital of the northeastern region, which last year made a failed attempt to break away from Spain.
AFP reporters saw baton-wielding riot police charge activists throwing stones and street barriers three times.
Protesters threw metal barriers and stones at officers and tried to breach a police barrier a few hundred metres from where the meeting was taking place.
Several thousand demonstrators gathered peacefully near the city’s Franca rail station.
Some held signs reading: “Occupying forces, out”.
Sanchez and the head of Catalonia’s separatist government, Quim Torra, have expressed a commitment to an “effective dialogue” to try to resolve the dispute over the wealthy region’s status within Spain.
At the cabinet meeting itself, the government approved a 22% increase in the minimum wage, a pay hike for public workers and announced investments in infrastructure projects in Catalonia.
“We came here to show (our) affection, (our) attachment to Catalonia,” government spokeswoman Isabel Celaa said afterwards.
“We are working for the wellbeing of all our fellow citizens.”
But the timing of the meeting – a year to the day after Madrid held snap elections in the region after blocking its move for independence – offended some Catalans.
“This is a provocation. They have come here to provoke us,” said one demonstrator, textile worker Carles Serra, 45.
Spain’s wealthiest region, Catalonia is home to some 7.5mn people, and has its own language.
A radical separatist group, the Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), blocked a dozen main roads from around dawn yesterday, regional transport authorities said.
“We will be ungovernable on December 21,” the group repeatedly tweeted.
A grassroots separatist organisation, ANC, urged supporters to block the streets of Barcelona with their vehicles.
About 20 pro-independence groups, including the ANC, called on their supporters to march through the streets of Barcelona.
The Spanish government sent police reinforcements to Barcelona and Catalan political leaders repeated their call for the protests to be peaceful.
The regional police force said eight people had been arrested.
Catalonia declared independence in October 2017 after pushing ahead with a banned independence referendum, but Spanish authorities stifled the attempt.
Several Catalan independence leaders were detained on charges of rebellion or misuse of public funds, and prosecutors are seeking jail terms of up to 25 years.
Sanchez took office as prime minister eight months later after winning a surprise vote of no-confidence against the previous conservative government with the support of Catalan separatist parties.
He initially adopted a more conciliatory tone towards Catalonia than his conservative predecessor, but efforts to ease tensions with the region have hit a wall.
Sanchez and Torra were photographed holding talks in Barcelona on Thursday night, drawing fire from both the conservative right and radical separatists.
The leader of the conservative opposition Popular Party in parliament, Dolors Montserrat, branded the meeting “shameful” and “a betrayal of Spain”.
“Dialogue seems like a step backwards to me,” said separatist demonstrator Mariona Godia, 35. “That just looks like a photo aimed at calming people down.”
While Sanchez has proposed giving Catalonia more powers, Torra wants a legally binding referendum on independence.