Spanish court opens sedition probe of Catalonia officials for independence bid

Spain’s high court launched a criminal investigation on Wednesday against the Catalan police chief and organizers of the disputed referendum on suspicion of inciting rebellion against the state.

The summonses to appear before the court this week came after the Spanish king on Tuesday night charged that the Barcelona separatists were acting “outside the law and outside democracy.”

With each passing day, national authorities and the pro-independence forces in Catalonia appear to be moving inexorably toward a dramatic confrontation.

On Wednesday night, Carles Puigdemont, the Catalan regional president and a leading secessionist, made a televised address defending the decision to stage a vote deemed illegal and unconstitutional by the courts.

Puigdemont said Catalonia was united and that “the people were doing what other peoples have done before them” — charting their own destiny.

Read the whole story from The Washington Post.

Featured image courtesy of AP