POLICE and protesters clashed outside a museum in the Catalan city of Lleida after the Spanish Government ordered that dozens of artefacts be returned to the neighbouring region of Aragon.
The 44 items, which include paintings and wooden coffins, have been at the centre of an ownership dispute since the 1980s, when they were sold by nuns at a convent in Aragon to the Catalan Government.
Aragon claims the sale was illegal and has been trying to recover the works.
Yesterday’s transfer was ordered by Spain’s Culture Minister, Inigo Mendez de Vigo, and comes just days ahead of the Catalan election called by the Spanish Government in the aftermath of October’s referendum on independence.
It began in the early hours of the morning, when experts accompanied by police officers and members of the Spanish civil guard, or military police, entered the museum under cover of darkness.
Hundreds gathered outside to demonstrate against the removal. Some chanted, “Hands up! This is a robbery!” and expressed anger over Madrid’s decision to sack the Catalan Government.
Scuffles broke out and a cordon was set up to allow the artworks to be loaded on to a lorry.
Ousted Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium after the Spanish took control in Catalonia, attacked the move on Twitter. He accused the Spanish Government of “taking advantage of a coup d’etat to plunder Catalonia with absolute impunity”.
In an article for a local newspaper, Lleida mayor Angel Ros insisted there were no grounds for the removal. “There is still a long way to go to resolve the litigation over these goods,” he wrote. “We will use all legal means to show the purchase was made in accordance with the law and that the works were transferred to the Museum of Lleida with full legality and legitimacy.”
Catalans go to the polls a week on Thursday, will polls suggesting the results will be close.
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