Catalan police call for neutrality as
Spain exerts control
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[October 28, 2017]
By Jesús Aguado and Sonya Dowsett
MADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) - Catalonia's
police force told its officers to remain neutral in the struggle over
the region's fight for independence from Spain, a step towards averting
possible conflict as the Madrid government starts to impose control on
Saturday.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dismissed the Catalan government,
took over the administration and called a new election after the
regional parliament made a unilateral declaration of independence on
Friday, aggravating Spain's worst political crisis in four decades.
The independence declaration, though dramatic, was almost immediately
rendered futile by Rajoy's actions. Other European countries and the
United States also rejected it and expressed support for Spain's prime
minister.
But emotions are running high in Catalonia and the next few days will be
tricky for Madrid as it embarks on enforcing direct rule on the ground.
Rajoy designated Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz Santamaria to
oversee the process.
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The regional parliament's vote to declare Catalonia a separate nation,
which was boycotted by three national opposition parties, capped a
battle of wills between the independence movement, headed by the
now-sacked Carles Puigdemont and the Madrid government.
The separatists say a referendum held on Oct. 1 gave them a mandate for
independence. However, less than half of eligible voters turned out for
the ballot, which Madrid declared illegal and tried to stop.
Opinion polls regularly show that more than half of the 5.3 million
people who are eligible to vote in the wealthy northeastern region do
not want to break from Spain.
In an effort to defuse tensions, the regional police force urged its
officers to behave in a neutral manner and not to take sides, an
internal note seen by Reuters showed.
There have been doubts over how the Mossos d'Esquadra, as the Catalan
police are called, would respond if ordered to evict Puigdemont and his
government.
The force is riven by distrust between those for and against
independence and is estranged from Spain's national police forces,
Mossos and national police officers have told Reuters. Some Catalan
police officers stood between national police and those trying to vote
during the banned referendum.
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"Given that there is it is likely to be an increase in gatherings and
rallies of citizens in all the territory and that there are people of
different thoughts, we must remember that it is our responsibility to
guarantee the security of all and help these to take place without
incident," said the memo, which had no name attached to it.
The Madrid government also sacked the force's chief of Catalonia's
regional police force, Josep Lluis Trapero, the official gazette
announced on Saturday.
Trapero became a hero to the secessionists after his force took a much
softer stance than national police in enforcing the government ban on
the independence referendum.
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![](../images/102817pics/news_n23.jpg)
A Catalan flag hangs from a balcony the morning after the Catalan
regional parliament declared independence from Spain in Barcelona,
Spain, October 28, 2017. REUTERS/Yves Herman
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Spain's High Court on Oct. 16 banned Trapero from leaving the
country and seized his passport as part of an investigation for
alleged sedition, although it did not order his arrest.
Prosecutors say he failed to give orders to rescue national police
trapped inside a Barcelona building during pro-independence protests
last month.
In Barcelona, thousands of independence supporters packed the Sant
Jaume Square in front of the regional headquarters on Friday night,
waving Catalan flags and singing traditional songs in the Catalan
language as bands played. There was no trouble.
But some analysts say that street confrontation is possible as the
Madrid government enforces control.
The main secessionist group, the Catalan National Assembly, on
Friday called on civil servants not to follow orders from the
Spanish government, but it stressed they should mount "peaceful
resistance".
A pro-independence trade union, the CSC, called a strike from Monday
through to Nov. 9. The government said it would ensure a minimum
service.
MADRID SAYS VIVA ESPANA
A pro-unity rally was due to take place in Madrid on Saturday
afternoon, an indication of the resentment the independence drive
has caused in the rest of Spain.
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The chaos has also prompted a flight of business from Catalonia,
which contributes about a fifth of Spain's economy, the
fourth-largest in the euro zone. Markets have dipped and risen on
the roller-coaster of developments.
European leaders have denounced the push, fearing it could fan
separatist sentiment around the continent.
Catalonia is one of Spain's most prosperous regions and already has
a high degree of autonomy. But it has a litany of historic
grievances, exacerbated during the 1939-1975 Franco dictatorship,
when its culture and politics were suppressed.
The new regional election will be held on Dec. 21. But it is not
certain whether this can resolve the crisis as it could increase the
numbers of independence supporters in parliament and take things
full circle.
(Reporting by Sonya Dowsett and Jesús Aguado, writing by Angus
MacSwan, additional by Andrés González and Tomás Cobos, editing by
Alexander Smith)
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