MADRID, Sept 22 (Xinhua) -- Spanish Interior Minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido, informed on Friday that he is sending more members of the Civil Guards and National Police force to help maintain public order in the week ahead of the Catalan independence referendum scheduled for Oct. 1 and which the Spanish government and Constitutional Court insist is illegal.
Maintaining order is usually in the hands of the Catalan regional police force (Mossos d'Esquadra) but Spanish law affords the possibility for Civil Guards and National Police to participate "if required by the Authorities of the Autonomous community or if the responsible state authorities consider it necessary."
The Interior Ministry insists the police will be to watch public spaces and maintain order and to act in case the referendum is held."
Meanwhile the Spanish State Prosecutor has denounced that the protests of Sept. 20 and 21 following the arrest of 12 Catalan government officials in relation to their supposed part in ordering the referendum amounts to "sedition."
Several cars belonging to the Civil Guards had their tires punctured, their windshields broken and were daubed with graffiti as thousands of people protested against the detentions.
The prosecutor's denouncement seeks charges against those who "incited, took part in or directed these actions," and also against the "existence of a concert of efforts among private or public people and entities" in order to "impose the independence referendum by force or intimidation."
