Local police chief and four politicians investigated over referendum

A Catalan court admitted for consideration a lawsuit put forth by the Spanish prosecutor against four local officials in the northern coastal town of Pineda de Mar for the crime of incitement to hatred.

The lawsuit involves three local deputy mayors from the unionist Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) and a local councilor for the pro-independence Esquerra Republicana party (ERC), for allegedly forcing two hotel owners in the seaside town to remove Spanish police officers staying in the establishments, while dispatched to prevent the October 1 Catalan independence referendum.

The Spanish prosecutor believes that PSC officials Carme Aragonés, Jordi Masnou, and Silvia Bosca, along with ERC councilor Mònica Palacín and the head of local police told the hotels their establishments would be closed for five years if they did not remove the officers, on October 3.