Police raids a ‘smokescreen’ for PP corruption, say pro-independence parties

A major police operation in Catalonia on Thursday involving several raids and 29 arrests was deemed by pro-independence politicians to be a “smokescreen” to divert attention from the final verdict of the so-called Gürtel case, a corruption scandal for which Spain’s ruling People’s Party (PP) has been found guilty.

Catalan president Quim Torra shared a tweet by a local councilor in Barcelona implying that both developments could be linked. Jordi Coronas, a member of pro-independence ERC party, wrote that ahead of the ‘Gürtel’ sentence it was still not known “which offices in Catalonia will be raided by the Spanish Guardia Civil police in order to cover up the news a little bit.” Torra retweeted the message and added: “Prophetic.”

Aragonès calls what happened a "film set" 

Torra’s would-be vice president, Pere Aragonès, condemned the operation as “clearly propagandistic in intention.” He said that some media already knew about the operation before it even started, and added that creating a “film set” is not the best way to gather evidence.