Tensions between the Spanish government and supportesrs of Catalonia’s independence refenredum escalated after police detained more than a dozen people in the region on Wednesday.
The situation further deteorated just less than two weeks before the Catalan referendum on independence that the Spanish government declared illegal.
On Wenesday morning, security forces raided the offices of the Catalan regional government and arrested at least 14 people, including Josep Maria Jove, secretary general of economic affairs.
Furthermore hundreds local officials, including mayors, had been warned that they would be indicted if they asssisted the referendum. The Catalan population reacted with mass protests in support of Catalan independence and the detained people.
Raül Romeva, Catalonia’s foreign affairs chief, told a group of foreign correspondents in Madrid on Wednesday that Catalonia would hold the referendum as planned.
