MADRID/BARCELONA—Catalonia’s police force told its officers to remain neutral in the struggle over the region’s fight for independence from Spain, a step towards averting possible conflict as the Madrid government starts to impose control on Saturday.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dismissed the Catalan government, took over the administration and called a new election after the regional parliament made a unilateral declaration of independence on Friday, aggravating Spain’s worst political crisis in four decades.
