Spain: 3 Catalans who burned King's photos arrested

By Alyssa McMurtry

MADRID

Catalan police Monday arrested at least three people, who are under investigation for burning photos of the king last September, during Catalonia´s regional holiday, for not showing up in court last Wednesday.

All three are members of the far-left separatist Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), according to Spanish daily El Pais. All

Several Catalan politicians from the CUP party tore up photos of Spanish King Felipe VI during a press conference in protest of the arrests.

“We vindicate disobedience as a valid mechanism for the construction of the Catalan Republic [...] we don´t have fear or a king,” said Mireia Vehí, a CUP member of the Catalan parliament, during the press conference in which she and five others tore pictures of Felipe VI to bits.

While the CUP party is a minority in the Catalan Parliament, it has joined forces with a center-right separatist coalition to push an independent Catalonia.

Last month, the mayor of a Catalan town was arrested after she refused to take down a separatist flag. Spanish authorities are also investigating other important separatist politicians, including former Catalan president Artur Mas, for holding a non-binding referendum in 2014.