Spanish police arrested 12 important Catalan politicians for supporting Catalonia's independence

Spanish police searched the regional government buildings and arrested at least 12 high-ranking Catalan officials, including the assistant to the Catalan Vice President and the Deputy Catalan Minister of Economy Josep Maria Jove, Telegram reports, as stated by the Patria agency.

Police raided the offices of the ministries of economy, interior and foreign affairs, social affairs, telecommunications, and tax departments ahead of the banned independence referendum.

Catalan ministers are expected to hold an extraordinary meeting soon due to this incident.

Tensions between Barcelona and Madrid have escalated in the past two weeks due to leaders' preparations for the October 1 referendum on secession from Spain. The newspaper El Pais writes that a total of 14 people have been arrested.

Spanish police on Tuesday seized more than 45,000 envelopes packed in cardboard boxes, which the Catalan government intended to use to inform people across the region about the referendum.

On Tuesday, numerous Catalan mayors were forced to appear before the state prosecutor after being accused of supporting the referendum, the holding of which Madrid prohibits.