THE Spanish government has strongly denied claims made by UK academics that it is guilty of “political repression” in the wake of the referendum on Catalonian independence.

More than 80 professors and staff members signed an open letter calling on the UK Government and devolved administrations to put pressure on the Spanish authorities to resolve the situation peacefully.

They have also called for the release of Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart, leaders of the Catalan grassroots organisations Catalan National Assembly and Omnium Cultural, held on sedition charges.

The statement was circulated by Professor David Whyte of the University of Liverpool, who said that “dark forces” were currently at work in Spain. They also want the withdrawal of the Guardia Civil, the Spanish National Police and other forces from Catalonia.

But Spain’s ambassador to the UK, Carlos Bastarreche, denied human rights violation and accused the academics of being “profoundly irresponsible” over the “false” claims.

He said: “They wrongly talk about ‘the political repression by the Spanish government’ and about ‘human rights violations’.

“Spain is a social and democratic state, subject to the rule of law. “They refer to Spanish police forces as ‘paramilitary’. In Spain there are no paramilitary forces and it is important to highlight that the police and Civil Guard were acting on court orders.”