Among the 250 Guardia Civil evicted on Monday from the Hotel Vila de Calella were 17 officers from the Alicante Command of Alicante. All of them were told at lunchtime to collect their belongings and leave the establishment as a matter of urgency.

All of the agents were personnel who had been moved into Catalonia to stop the vote for independence.

All of them had volunteered to go to Catalonia , following the appeal made by the Ministry of Interior, to assist with the prevention of last Sunday’s illegal referendum.

The number of volunteers in the Alicante province was much larger, but the General Directorate of the Civil Guard eventually selected just the small contingent of agents who eventually moved to Barcelona. It was last Tuesday when the group departed the Command of the Civil Guard of Alicante.

The authorities added that none of them were injured during Sunday’s demonstrations or the tense stand-off that took place outside the hotel on Monday when the establishment was blockaded by a large number of Catalan separatists including the Mayor of Calella, Montse Candini

All of the officers were moved to other accommodation in the province of Barcelona that, for security reasons, has not been revealed.