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"We don't accept the interference of the [Spanish] state in the Mossos". That was the statement from the Catalan Interior minister, Joaquim Forn, about the withdrawal of powers from the force communicated this morning by the senior public prosecutor in Catalonia, José María Romero de Tejada, to the head of the Mossos d'Esquadra, the Catalan police, Josep Lluís Trapero.

In practice, that means disobeying the orders from the Public Prosecutors' Office and the Spanish Interior ministry that aim to take control of the Mossos and decide on all the force's actions. Trapero has refused to accept this as he is reported to have said in this morning's meeting. The refusal was announced publicly by Forn in an unprecedented official statement broadcast live on Catalan public channel TV3.

During the statement, the minister said that the Spanish state intends to control the Mossos and that lawyers for his department are already studying their options.

Trapero expressed his intention to not accept the measure, which he described as "interference by the state", and also warned that "it skips over all the bodies of the legal framework to coordinate the security of Catalonia".

The Catalan Interior ministry defends the autonomy of the Mossos d'Esquadra as Catalonia's police force and refutes the arguments of the ministry because, according to sources consulted by El Nacional, it ignores article 164 of Catalonia's Statute of Autonomy and the public prosecutor is acting outside its powers. One thing is to order the legal police to take a specific action, it's something else to decide who has to give it orders and obviate order 2/86 of the surveillance of public spaces and security that only corresponds to the Mossos.

Moreover, according to the same sources, the Public Prosecutors' Office hasn't made the mandatory prior decree to revoke the powers of the Catalan police.

The legal services are still studying if they should undertake legal action. Among their options would be to challenge the prosecutor's order to the prosecutor themselves and the Supreme Court of Justice of Catalonia; another would be to present a plea to the Constitutional Court.

Spain's Interior ministry has called on article 38.2 of the Law of Forces and Corps of Security which sets out the possibility of intervening in the police forces of the autonomous communities even though they have full powers in their territories. Trapero was already informed of this last Thursday in a meeting with the senior public prosecutor of Catalonia, also attended by Diego Pérez de los Cobos, head of the coordination cabinet of the Secretariat of State of Security of the central Interior ministry. Pérez de los Cobos is a career Civil Guard agent and the number three in the Interior ministry.

Translation: We don't accept the command of the Mossos d'Esquadra by the Interior ministry 

We will continue working as before: exercising our powers to guarantee security and public order and to be at the service of the public.