The force, known as Mossos d’Esquadra, was under the authority of the Catalan government before moves recently by the Spanish government under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to curtail Catalonia’s powers and bring the police force directly under the control of Spanish rule.
Mr Rajoy’s administration has already seized control of Catalan finances and now is attempting to do the same in other areas as it continues to crackdown on what it sees as an illegal referendum which has been called for October 1.
In a joint press conference today with the Catalan home affairs minister Joaquim Forn and the Mossos chief Josep Lluís Trapero, Mr Forn said that the move by Spain was “unacceptable”.
He said: “We denounce the Spanish government’s will of seizing the Mossos, as they did with Catalonia’s finances.
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Reuters
Barcelona and Madrid appear to be on collision course over the Catalan independence referendum
“The Catalan government does not accept this interference, it bypasses all the institutions that the current legal framework already has in place to guarantee the security of Catalonia.”
Mr Trapero expressed his intention to not accept the measure, which he described as “interference by the state”, and also warned that “it skips over all the bodies of the legal framework to coordinate the security of Catalonia”.
In a tweet in Catalan by Mossos, it said: “We will continue working as before: exercising our powers to guarantee security and public order and to be at the service of the public.”
Catalan News Agency
Catalan minister Joaquim Forn (L) with Mossos chief Josep Lluís Trapero
The Catalan government also believes that the Mossos takeover bypasses the Catalan statute – article 164 – and constitutional law and the Spanish prosecutor that ruled in favour of Madrid taking control had overstepped his legal boundaries, saying that it had no power to rule on who had the authority to issue orders to Mossos.
The prosecutor had ordered that the Catalan police, the Spanish National Police and Spain’s Guardia Civil be managed from the Ministry of Home Affairs in Madrid.
The decision, according to the prosecution, aims at “reinforcing the operation to prevent crime and to keep public order” a week before the October 1 independence referendum.
The decision was announced during a meeting between the prosecutor and the chiefs of the three police forces.
Spain crisis: Protest outside the Catalan High Court
Fri, September 22, 2017
Pro-Independence Associations called for a meeting in front of the Catalan High Court building demanding release of the 14 officials arrested yesterday during a Spanish Police operation in an attempt to stop the region’s independence referendum, due to take place on October 1, which has been deemed illegal by the Spanish government in Madrid
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People demonstrate in front of the Catalan High Court building
Express.co.uk has contacted the Catalan government for comment.
The latest move by Madrid will increase the tension between the two sides which increasingly looks like it could descend into a direct confrontation as neither side appears to be willing to back down.
In other moves the latest website set up by the Catalan government indicating where Catalans can go and vote on October 1 now appears to be blocked again.
The Catalan Councillor of Education, Clara Ponsatí, has stated that the referendum on October 1 will take place: “The polls will be there and people will find them close to home.”
It also has insisted they will comply with democratic guarantees.
Reuters
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont speaking a pro-independence rally
In an interview with RAC1, he regretted that the Government delegate in Catalonia, Enric Millo, sent a letter to school directors: “He is nobody to write to the headmasters and insult their personal dignity.”
She said: “We are in a difficult situation. The referendum will not take place in conditions of tranquility.”
As events in Catalonia move at a fast pace, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs has said that the Catalan “process” was not compatible with democracy”.
Reuters
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy
In an address to the UN in New York Alfonso Dastis, while he did not refer directly to the situation in Catalonia, he said: “Any challenge to the rules of the democratic game constitutes a serious attack against coexistence in peace and freedom,” he said. “An alleged legitimacy against constitutional legality inevitably leads to the violation of the fundamental rights of millions of citizens and it is not compatible with democracy”.
Mr Dastis has insisted that “the Government of Spain can not and will not give up the defence of the rule of law and the values that inspire it: freedom, equality, justice and political pluralism”.