Spanish prosecutor seeks sedition charges for leaders of Catalan protests

The Spanish attorney general’s office on Friday pushed for sedition charges against leaders of Barcelona protests that saw Guardia Civil vehicles vandalized and agents surrounded during a night of tensions over the arrests of Catalan officials. 

The Spanish National Court was asked to investigated alleged sedition during protests that broke out across the city during a sweeping round of raids targeting pro-independence leaders on Wednesday. The crime carries a charge of up to 15 years in prison.

As protests continued to grip Barcelona, with demonstrators occupying the city’s University rectory on Friday, the Attorney of the National Court accused protesters of knowingly breaking the law in their bid to hold a banned independence referendum on Oct. 1.

At least 40,000 demonstrators descended on the Catalan department of economy as it was raided on Wednesday, blocking agents inside from leaving for up to nine hours until the judge who had ordered the operation made a midnight phone call to the head of the Catalan police. 

The 11-page complaint said protesters also destroyed three Guardia Civil vehicles, forcing the agents to take refuge inside the department of economy, and that hundreds of people threw objects at the Catalan police, the Mossos d’Esquadra.

It singled out the leaders of two pro-independence groups, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Omnium Cultural, as having orchestrated and encouraged the protests.

The demonstrations were mounted with the intent “to prevent by force the actions of the authorities and their agents in the exercise of their functions in defence of the constitutional order,” the complaint alleged.

Demonstrators continued to rally outside Barcelona’s High Court of Justice yesterday (Friday) as Catalan officials, including the treasury secretary, appeared to face charges.

Though sedition had been cited on custody orders, they were finally charged with misappropriation of funds, breach of official duty and disobedience, and released on bail.

The Catalan government insists the referendum will still go ahead in the face of what it calls Spanish "authoritarianism" and yesterday announced that a number of medical facilities would give space for polling.

Madrid has deployed thousands of Guardia Civil to the autonomous region in a bid to prevent it, a move it says is necessary to protect Spanish democracy.