Catalunia
Four jailed Catalan separatist leaders currently on hunger strike sent letters to more than 40 European leaders yesterday to protest what they see as mistreatment by the Spanish courts.
The dispute between Catalonia’s independence-seeking regional government and Madrid has worsened in recent weeks .. Pro-independence protests are planned across Catalonia on Friday.
the Catalan leaders say Spain’s courts are unduly delaying their leagal action to prevent them appealing at the European level,
four signatories went on hunger strike earlier this month to protest their treatmeant by the judiciary
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his cabinet will travel to Barcelona on Friday for a meeting to be held amid high security
Meanwhile
The Supreme Court is holding a preliminary hearing ahead of a trial of 18 former Catalan officials and activists.
A panel of seven magistrates is hearing from attorneys today arguing that the case should be judged by a high court in the Catalonia region rather than at the top court in Madrid. Judges have rejected the move in previous similar appeals.
Former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras and 17 other defendants are not expected to appear in court until procedures begin in earnest at the end of January.
Immigration
A new migrant route is forming in the Basque Country following the tightening of migrant routes in Turkey and Italy, with observers claiming that up to 150 migrants arrive daily attempting to get to France and northern Europe.
The main route lies across the French-Spanish border region where migrants, mostly from sub- Saharan Africa, attempt to cross from Spain into France while police on both sides of the border attempt to prevent them.
The so-called “Spanish road” had previously been one of the more minor migrant routes
The French-Spanish border has seen a total of 6,000 migrants caught by authorities attempting to get into France illegally from January to November of this year.
Terrorists.
Two suspected extremist sympathizers were detained yesterday in separate operations in different parts of Spain.
The Mossos . .the Catalan regional police detained a man named Khalia Makran who is of Dutch origin, in an operation close to Tarragona.
The police had been looking for Makran following the discovery of pro-extremist messages he had painted on the wall of the hotel bedroom where he had been staying at the nearby town of Vilaseca.
The second arrest took place in the town of Vitoria, northern Spain, with the detainee described as a 36-year-old Algerian man who is suspected of working to recruit for the Islamic State.