US citizen could face deportation following arrest during last week's unrest

Eric, a US citizen who has lived in El Masnou, a town just north of Barcelona, for years, could face deportation from the country following his arrest last Friday at one of the many protests against the sentencing of 9 independence leaders for sedition for supposed public order and security concerns.

According to the Spanish police officers who detained him on Barcelona's Via Laietana, near the city's Spanish police headquarters where many of the most turbulent protests took place, his pockets were searched leading to the confiscation of a pro-independence Catalan flag, or 'estelada', as well as two metal nuts.

The police in question allege that Eric began insulting them in English, pushing and grabbing one of them by the arm before they both fell, which is when they claim to have proceeded to arrest him. Eric, on the other hand, maintains that they seized his flag and he simply asked them to return it.  

Regardless of what may or may not have transpired that night in question, what started out as an ordinary detention for his purported role in the altercations turned into an administrative one – that is to say, one that could ultimately lead to him having his residency withdrawn – due to his legal status as an immigrant in Spain, despite the fact that he has lived in the country for fifteen years and is married to and is the father of Spanish nationals.

Two other foreign nationals that were arrested last week in Catalonia amidst the post-sentencing turmoil have already been sent to Barcelona's migrant detention center, where they can be held for up to 60 days before a judge decides whether they should be deported or can remain in the country.