TENSION increased in Spain’s restless Catalonia region today as it emerged hundreds of police have been forced out of their hotels ahead of a strike dubbed “a nation’s walkout.”
The owner of the three-star Hotel Vila in the seaside resort of Calella just north of Barcelona confirmed today that he had asked around 100 Civil Guards staying at the establishment to leave.
David Coll said that he had taken his decision after confrontations between officers and locals in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Civil Guards sleeping at the hotel ended up using batons to try to disperse crowds who had gathered outside to shout insults after the police brutality witnessed at several polling stations during Sunday’s Catalan independence referendum.
A lawyer acting for the police has pledged legal action against the hotel owner and local council he claimed had pressured him into serving the expulsion order, a claim town hall chiefs have angrily denied.