An indication of regional energy
The Mossos d’Esquadra (its full, official title is the Policia de la Generalitat de Catalunya) was created within the early Nineteen Eighties, as a part of an association to grant Catalonia larger regional autonomy. Its powers have been broadened within the mid-Nineties to tackle virtually all main policing duties in Catalonia apart from border and passport controls. Together with the Basque Nation, it’s the solely area to have its personal power with such powers.
“Having the Mossos was extraordinarily vital for Catalonia, it was a chance to have our personal fashionable police,” Francesc-Marc Álvaro, a member of parliament for the pro-independence Catalan Republican Left (ERC), stated. He stated the power was a vital factor of the area’s distinct id, for each nationalists and unionists.
That standing was underlined in August 2017, when terrorists killed 16 folks in Barcelona and the city of Cambrils, thrusting the Mossos into the highlight. Within the days after, officers shot useless six terrorists, and it grew to become a typical sight for folks to interrupt into applause when the police handed by. Some Catalans put flowers on patrol vehicles as a mark of gratitude.
Essentially the most senior officer on the time, Josep Lluís Trapero, grew to become a folks hero to many Catalans, who admired his confident method and insistence on talking in Catalan in press conferences. He was so fashionable that his face began showing on T-shirts.
Weeks after the terrorist assaults, Trapero and his power confronted a really totally different type of take a look at when the Catalan authorities — led on the time by Puigdemont — organized a controversial independence referendum.
Officers from throughout Spain have been deployed to quell the insurrection, typically via power. The Mossos, nevertheless, took a comparatively hands-off method, resulting in many nationalists seeing them because the potential foot troopers of an unbiased state. This inevitably drew the ire of Madrid, with accusations that the Mossos was conniving with the independence motion (a view compounded by an outdated video displaying Trapero singing at a celebration with Puigdemont and different prime nationalist figures).