Tensions mount as police seize artwork from Catalunya museum

The regional government of Aragón claims the nuns at the monastery sold the 44 pieces of artwork illegally.

They were bought by the regional government of Catalunya in the 1980s, but two years ago, the sale was declared null and void and Spain's heritage and culture ministry ordered Lleida to return them.

Campaigns have been staged along with protests outside the museum, the most recent one having begun at 04.00 this morning (Monday).

Although the Mossos d'Esquadra – Catalunya's military police – cordoned off streets in the vicinity of the museum, they were met with public backlash as they tried to spread out.

One man treated by paramedics for a tachycardia said he had been hit with a truncheon.

The museum has called for police not to use physical force against those who are protesting peacefully.

Demonstrators chanted, 'hands up, this is a hold-up', and carried banners with the same words.

Some of them managed to block off the main road to the gallery, shouting, 'hands off our museum' and 'invaders get out'.

MP for the Catalunya Left Republicans (ERC) Joan Tardá blames the fact that the State has taken control of the region following the disputed independence referendum for police being able to enter Lleida's museum and remove the artwork.

Campaigns against the artefacts being moved to Aragón have been ongoing since July, but the court case has been running for longer.

The deadline for the museum to hand over the items was midnight last night (Sunday), but were still there at 03.00 this morning.

Seven items – three funerary urns and four alabaster altarpieces – were still in their usual place on display, and the remaining 37 were in storage.

Lleida museum says it is considering the removal of the goods as a 'loan' and is 'confident' that the Supreme Court will uphold its appeal and demand their return from Sijena.

Catalunya's head of culture and heritage territorial services, Josep Borrell, worries that the ownership dispute could come at the price of conflict between neighbours, given that Lleida borders directly onto the province of Huesca and those who live close to the divide could suffer backlash.

Some residents in Huesca cross the border for medical treatment because the hospital and GP surgeries are nearer to home than the closest ones in their own province.

And technically, Catalunya does not have to cooperate in this respect, but does so in order to be 'neighbourly', Borrell explains.

“But it could be Lleida will rethink,” he warns.