Catalan police protest cutbacks

Around 50 members of the Catalan police staged a sit-in at Barcelona's largest police station Friday to protest the regional government's planned budget cuts.

"If they won't negotiate, we'll fight," warned one Mosso d'Esquadra. The protestors said they would not budge from the Plaça de Espanya station until the head of internal affairs, Felip Puig, sits down to negotiate with them. Until then, the Mossos are contemplating several pressure methods, such as using Castilian Spanish exclusively in their relations with the public, a measure sure to irk nationalists.

Unions complain that law enforcement officers have lost five percent of their salary over the last year and a half, and that 380 patrol cars have been taken out of circulation. "We cannot provide a good service with everything they're doing," said David Miquel, of the police union SPC.

In a bid to contain the budget deficit, the Catalan government enacted drastic spending cuts in education and health, and later warned that public servants were next in line.

Meanwhile, in the region of Valencia, police broke up a sit-in by another 50 individuals at Palau de Fuentehermosa, a government building, where they called for the resignation of regional treasury chief José Manuel Vela over budget cuts there.

The cash-strapped Valencia region has also announced significant cuts in health, education and the public workforce.