Spain’s Guardia Civil enters HQs of pro-independence organizations

Spain’s Guardia Civil police entered the seats of the pro-independence organizations Catalan National Assembly (ANC in Catalan) and Òmnium Cultural on Wednesday morning. This operation was ordered by the Supreme Court judge, who is investigating the pro-independence leaders who are either in jail, in Belgium, or out on bond. The officers entered the offices of former ANC president, Jordi Sànchez, and the current leader of Òmnium, Jordi Cuixart. Both of them have been held in custody in a Madrid prison for exactly 100 days, since October 16, 2017. They eventually left the headquarters of Òmnium at around 8:30pm after 11 hours in the building, and left ANC after 3 hours.

According to Òmnium Cultural sources, officers entered its HQs at around 9am asking for paperwork and their email accounts. "Total normality prevails in our offices, and our employees are doing their work. We collaborate with anything required by the Guardia Civil, as Cuixart has always done. We have nothing to hide," said Marcel Mauri, vice president of Òmnium. 

Meanwhile, the ANC vice president, Agustí Alcoverro, said that the visit, which lasted three hours, was “relatively discreet.” He added that the officers might have been interested in paperwork related to the time Sànchez was in office. Indeed, the Guardia Civil members made a copy of Sànchez's email account. 

Some officers also turned up in the Catalan government Telecommunications and IT center (CTTI), one of the targets of the Guardia Civil in the run-up to the October 1 independence referendum. The CTTI is responsible for the IT systems related to counting votes for elections held in Catalonia.