MADRID: The mounting political crisis in Spain over Catalonia’s campaign for independence intensified on Saturday with a new row over the control of the local police force as the regional government pressed ahead with plans to hold an illegal vote next weekend.
The State prosecutor in Catalonia told all local and national police forces on Saturday that they had been temporarily placed under a single chain of command reporting directly to the interior ministry in Madrid.
But Catalonia’s interior chief, Joaquim Forn, said his department and the local police, or Mossos d’Esquadra, did not accept this decision.
“We denounce the intervention of the state to control the police forces of Catalonia ... We will not accept this control,” Forn said in a televised speech.
It was not immediately clear whether the regional administration and the Mossos could actually oppose the decision, as Spanish laws allow for the possibility of state police taking the lead over the police of an autonomous community during a joint operation.
The central government representative in Catalonia, Enric Millo, had earlier said the Mossos remained in charge of security in Catalonia though they would be “coordinated” directly by the interior ministry and not by the local authorities, together with two national police forces also on the ground in Catalonia.
“We are not taking over the police competencies of the regional government,” Millo told reporters after an event held by his People’s Party (PP) in Palma de Mallorca, in Eastern Spain.
Millo also called on Catalan leaders, including Forn, to stop encouraging street protests and demonstrations.
Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia said the prosecutor’s order would remain in place until at least Oct. 1, when the vote is due to take place.
The Mossos are one of the symbols of Catalonia’s autonomy and for many Catalans the prosecutor’s decision may be reminiscent of the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War and subsequent dictatorship of Francisco Franco, when the Mossos were abolished.
Several pro-independence groups have called for widespread protests on Sunday in central Barcelona.
“Let’s respond to the state with an unstoppable wave of democracy,” a Whatsapp message which was used to organize the demonstration read.
The Catalonian government opened a new website on Saturday with details of how and where to vote on Oct. 1, challenging several court rulings that had blocked previous sites and declared the referendum unconstitutional.
“You can’t stem the tide,” Catalonia’s president Carles Puigdemont said on Twitter in giving the link to the new website.
But Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy insisted again that the vote should not go ahead.
“It will not happen because this would mean liquidating the law,” he said at the PP event in Palma de Mallorca.
Acting on court orders, the Spanish state police has already raided the regional government offices, arrested temporarily several senior Catalan officials accused of organizing the referendum and seized ballot papers, ballot boxes, voting lists and electoral material and literature.
The Finance Ministry in Madrid has also taken control of regional finances to make sure public money is not being spent to pay for the logistics the vote or to campaign.
Between 3,000 and 4,000 police officers coming from other Spanish regions have already arrived in Catalonia or are on their way. They will join 5,000 state police already based in the region and 17,000 local Mossos.
Spain, Catalonia clash over policing as illegal independence vote nears
Spain, Catalonia clash over policing as illegal independence vote nears
French prosecutors stick to demand for five-year ban for Le Pen
- The first trial found Le Pen, along with 24 former European lawmakers, assistants and accountants as well as the party itself, guilty of operating a “system” from 2004 to 2016 using European parliament funds to employ RN staff in France
PARIS: French prosecutors demanded on Tuesday that an appeal court maintain a five-year ban on far-right leader Marine Le Pen from holding public office for a European parliament fraud, stepping up threats to her presidential ambitions.
If the court upholds last year’s bombshell ruling by a lower tribunal, Le Pen would be banned from running in France’s 2027 presidential election, widely seen as her best chance at the top job.
The prosecution also sought a four-year prison term with three years suspended and a 100,000-euro ($118,000) fine for the figurehead leader of the National Rally (RN) party, which has been riding high in the opinion polls.
Le Pen had hoped her appeal against her ban over a fake jobs scam at the European parliament — an accusation the 57-year-old has denied — would clear the way for her to run in the election after Emmanuel Macron stands down.
But during closing arguments lasting nearly six hours, attorney general Stephane Madoz-Blanchet told the court that “Marine Le Pen was the instigator, following in her father’s footsteps, of a system that enabled the party to embezzle 1.4 million euros.”
The first trial found Le Pen, along with 24 former European lawmakers, assistants and accountants as well as the party itself, guilty of operating a “system” from 2004 to 2016 using European parliament funds to employ RN staff in France.
Le Pen, the RN and 11 others are appealing the March 2025 ruling, which also sentenced her to four years in jail, with two suspended.
- Presidential race at stake -
Le Pen made it to the second round in the 2017 and 2022 presidential polls, losing to Macron both times. But he cannot run again next year after two consecutive terms in office.
During the appeal trial, she has denied that the RN had any “system” to embezzle European parliament funds and has said her party acted in “complete good faith.”
The appeal ends in February, with a verdict expected within months.
If she then appeals to the supreme court, its judges will rule before the 2027 presidential elections, they have said.
Le Pen has said she will decide whether to run after the ruling in the appeal trial, and has indicated that her lieutenant — 30-year-old RN president Jordan Bardella — could be the party’s candidate instead.
A poll in November predicted that, should he run, Bardella would win the second round of the 2027 elections, no matter who stands against him.
During Tuesday’s hearing, prosecutor Thierry Ramonatxo pushed back at claims that the judiciary had in any way aimed to “block a party leader’s ascent to the highest executive office” in the initial ruling.
“To suggest that the judiciary could oppose the will of the sovereign people is inaccurate,” he said.
“A judge is the guardian of the law and merely applies it.”
A French court last year handed an eight-month suspended jail sentence to a 76-year-old man over a death threat against the judge who convicted Le Pen.
