The assumption of the powers of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) on behalf of the Spanish government, bypassing the entire legislative framework, including the Statute of Autonomy that defends it so much, is the latest move by the executive of Mariano Rajoy (Spanish prime minister), trying to disarm the Catalan government and end as soon as possible any further response from it, and so that it withdraws from the referendum of 1st October. The news about the Catalan police, not widely commented upon over the last months, falls as an enormous gravity in the shape of this action and also in the background. In its shape because it lacks any legal basis in the way it was carried out, and in the background because the Mossos have gained professional prestige during these past years, which is why it is intended to now take political control of the corps. Because, in fact, however much it is intended to disguise this as something else: the command will not depend on the Catalan government but on the Ministry of the Interior.
As already happened with the assumption of the budget of the Catalan government on behalf of the Treasury minister, Montoro, that was carried out via an order published in the BOE (Official State Gazette) - such an extreme measure that liquidates the financial autonomy of the Catalan government not being addressed face to face - and which obliges to unfold article 155 of the Constitution, has been played out once again with respect to the Catalan police. In this case, the Public Prosecutor's Office ordered that the functions of the direction of the corps should be transferred, on all matters related to the prohibition of the referendum, to the Ministry of Interior. "The supreme command of the Mossos corresponds to the Catalan government," states the Statute of Autonomy in its article 164, section 2, "as well as the coordination of the action of the local police forces."
It is obvious that with this measure, what is being attempted is to break the principle of hierarchical structure of the Mossos d'Esquadra corps. In the same way how everything has been orientated towards contempt as the legal basis with which the presidents of the ANC and Òmnium are to face trial in the future, as those responsible for some tumultuous riots that never took place, and thus do not deserve such criminal qualification, now they are attempting to turn the autonomous police to act directly against the Catalan government, the civil servants, the political parties, the associations, the volunteers and who knows, maybe even the voters next Sunday.
The State has endangered the Catalan institutions without skimping on the means for it. The president of the Catalan government is the main piece to bag, but with him a whole generation of pro-independence politicians. The use of force in its current proportion is doing nothing more than raising more awareness about the loss of freedoms that are taking place in Catalonia, in just wanting to vote on 1st October. Meanwhile, you see the television in Madrid and you have the impression you're watching the NO-DO [obligatory state 'News & Documentary' propaganda newsreels during Franco's regime]. And that the Catalan response will not end up being the one that Madrid hopes. But that's already a classic.