http://www.ft.com/content/5f04fe02-9...4-932067fbf946
Spanish prosecutors on Friday levelled charges of sedition against activists campaigning for Catalan independence after a week of rapidly escalating tensions in which Madrid sought to crush next weekend’s referendum on secession.
The action was brought against the leaders of two pro-independence groups that held noisy protests in Barcelona after armed Spanish police raided Catalan regional government offices earlier in the week and arrested a dozen senior officials accused of organising the vote on October 1.
The sedition charges showed just how rapidly a clamour for independence for the region in northeastern Spain has blown up into a grave constitutional crisis with a real threat of civil unrest.
The action was brought against the leaders of two pro-independence groups that held noisy protests in Barcelona after armed Spanish police raided Catalan regional government offices earlier in the week and arrested a dozen senior officials accused of organising the vote on October 1.
The sedition charges showed just how rapidly a clamour for independence for the region in northeastern Spain has blown up into a grave constitutional crisis with a real threat of civil unrest.
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