Last ferry that housed Spanish police to leave Barcelona

Tonight, the last of the ships that housed the additional Spanish police forces dispatched for the independence referendum is to leave the Port of Barcelona, almost exactly three months after the October 1 vote. According to sources in the port, the ferry will join the existing Genoa-Barcelona-Tangiers commercial line, transporting both passengers and cargo.

The GNV Rhapsody is one of three ships hired by the Spanish Ministry of Interior Affairs for this purpose more than three months ago, alongside the Moby Dada (known for its cartoon character Tweety Bird decoration) and the GNV Azzurra, which took the Moby Dada’s place in the Port of Barcelona.

Hundreds of officers from the Spanish police forces the Guàrdia Civil and national police were dispatched in the 2017 operation, with the goal of preventing the October 1 independence referendum; many returned home in November, while a “reduced quantity” was kept in Catalonia until after the December 21 elections, gradually also leaving in the past week.

The ships also came into the spotlight after police unions criticized the living conditions inside the ferries, in particular in the Moby Dada; the latest of these events involved the police officers' Christmas dinner.