Catalan referendum: Protesters force 150 police out of hotel after voting day violence

'We don't want the hotels to become barracks'

Some 150 members of the Civil Guard were forced to quit their hotel accommodation in the coastal town of Calella, Catalonia on Monday morning after a protest by locals against police brutality in the banned referendum in the region mutated into a demonstration demanding the police forces leave.

According to Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia, the mayor of the coastal town, Monserrat Candini told a group of 500 protestors on Sunday evening “We don’t want the hotels in Calella to be a barracks.”

The protestors repeatedly chanted “You’re not welcome” at the Civil Guard.

On Sunday evening, during the standoff, the Civil Guard reportedly charged the demonstrators, breaking through a line of local police, the Mossos d’Esquadra, in order to reach the protestors. There were no reports of injuries.

According to agency reports, this morning Civil Guard have now moved on, apparently following a phone call from the mayor to the hotel owners insisting they leave, and the hotel itself has now closed its doors to the public.

Another group of Spanish state police, staying in a different hotel also in Calella have remained unaffected by the incidents, but some local bars have apparently put up signs refusing to serve them as customers.

Over 10,000 police from outside Catalonia were drafted in specially during the two weeks before the referendum. A first group of 40 Civil Guard arrived at the hotel in Calella three weeks ago, but their number increased to around 150 by the time of the vote itself.

Around 850 people were injured during the banned referendum on Sunday as Spanish state police and the Guardia Civil smashed their way into polling stations and charged would-be voters.