Madrid jails Catalan separatist leaders pending investigation
17 Oct 2017 9:51 PM IST
Madrid: Spain has signalled a hardening line over Catalonia by jailing the leaders of two of the largest separatist organisations in a move seen as taking Madrid closer to imposing central rule over Catalonia.
In the first imprisonment of senior secessionist figures since Catalonia's 1 October independence referendum, the court ordered the heads of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and independence group Omnium to be held without bail pending an investigation for alleged sedition.
Prosecutors said that the ANC's Jordi Sànchez and Omnium's Jordi Cuixart played central roles in orchestrating pro-independence protests that last month trapped national police inside a Barcelona building and destroyed their vehicles. Around 200 people flocked to the Catalan government's headquarters in Barcelona on Monday in a peaceful show of support for both men, with some chanting "Freedom" and waving "Democracy" banners.
The ANC, which has organised protests of hundreds of thousands of secessionists in the past, called for further peaceful demonstrations around Catalonia on Tuesday.
The Catalan regional president, Carles Puigdemont, commented on Twitter: "Spain jails Catalonia's civil society leaders for organising peaceful demonstrations. Sadly, we have political prisoners again" – an allusion to Spain's military dictatorship under Francisco Franco. The high court also banned the Catalan police chief, Josep Lluís Trapero, from leaving Spain and seized his passport while he is being investigated.
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