Spain seizes art from Catalan museum amid protests

By Alyssa McMurtry

MADRID (AA) - Police clashed with protesters on Monday as the Madrid government removed artwork from a Catalan museum.

Hundreds gathered to demonstrate against the removal of 44 medieval works of art from the Museum of Lleida to neighboring Aragon.

The artworks were sold to the Catalan government by nuns from the Sijena in the 1980s but a Spanish court declared the sale illegal in 2015.

The removal of the pieces came amid heightened tensions between Madrid and Catalonia over its bid for independence.

In October, Spain took over direct control of Catalonia and Spanish Culture Minister Inigo Mendez de Vigo used temporary powers to order the transfer to Aragon.

Early Monday, police gathered to oversee the transportation of the religious artefacts and were filmed using their batons to keep protesters at bay.

The political conflict between Spain and Catalan separatists remains acute, with less than two weeks to go until a regional election in Catalonia as pro-independence figures remain behind bars.

Carles Puigdemont, Catalonia’s exiled former president, accused the Spanish government of using the police to “take advantage of a coup d’etat to plunder Catalonia with absolute impunity.”