Spain’s Guardia Civil police have detained 14 Catalan officials and raided regional government ministries involved in organising a banned independence vote.
Tensions were already high before Josep Maria Jové, number two in the Catalan vice-presidency, and others were held. Thousands of Catalans took to the streets in protest and the regional leader complained of a power grab. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the state had been forced to act. Catalonia’s separatist government is defying a Constitutional Court order to halt the planned 1 October vote, which has been condemned by the Madrid government as illegal.
