"I don't know the details of the instructions sent to the security forces. It's logical they should look for proportionality". Former Spanish deputy prime minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría today became one of the first witnesses to testify to the Catalan independence trial; Xavier Melero was the defence lawyer who gave her the most problems. Among the topics he brought up was security, which closely affects his client, former Catalan interior minister Joaquim Forn.
"I saw the intelligence report on the risks of the 1st October [2017, referendum day] later. If I'd had it before, I'd have followed it," the former deputy PM said. Melero asked if she knew that Spanish police had its functions limited: "I didn't know that directives limited the state's security forces' actions in the case of large gatherings".
"I was told that, to comply with legal instructions, it was necessary to send six thousands police to Catalonia", said Santamaría, unable to clarify where the number came from: "the figure of six thousand was talked about habitually". As for the injuries caused when those police decided to use force to stop the vote, she said she only had evidence of people attended to by the emergency services, not injured. "They informed me of Civil Guard injuries," she said.