Spanish Government Withdraws Thousands of Police from Catalonia
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The Spanish government is withdrawing thousands of police officers it sent to Catalonia in September to deal with the fall-out from an independence declaration by the regional government.
The withdrawal should be complete by Saturday, the Interior Ministry in Madrid and the Spanish police union confirmed on Tuesday.
Madrid sent thousands of officers from the federal police organizations the Guardia Civil and the Policia National to Catalonia to halt independence moves, which it had declared illegal, German Press Agency (DPA) reported.
The government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy did not put an exact figure on how many officers were involved, but media estimated that it was between 4,000 and 6,000.
The police reinforcements were intended to prevent an October 1 independence referendum from going ahead that the Constitutional Court had declared illegal.
Despite the police reinforcements and sometimes brutal interventions, millions of Catalans – mostly independence supporters – still managed to vote, giving an overwhelming vote in favor of splitting from Madrid.
The referendum and a vote by the Catalan parliament to start moves towards independence led Rajoy at the end of October to sack Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, dissolve his government and impose direct rule from Madrid.
Rajoy also called fresh elections, which on Thursday gave the separatists an absolute majority in the Barcelona parliament. A government has yet to be formed.