Armoured & Luxury
Chauffeur Driven Cars

The president of Spain’s Catalonia region has called for an immediate halt to violence, as protests continued into a fourth day.

“We condemn violence… This has to stop right now,” said Quim Torra. He later said he would push for a new referendum on Catalan independence.

Protesters clashed with riot police, days after nine separatist leaders were jailed for their role in a failed push for independence. Ninety-six people have been hurt.

Demonstrators were detained in Barcelona, Lleida, Tarragona and Girona on Wednesday night as the protests spread across Spain’s north-east region.

Protesters have reportedly been using an app known as Tsunami Democràtic, which directs them to protest sites in Catalan cities. The Spanish authorities say they are investigating who is co-ordinating the disruption. Mr Torra blamed “infiltrators” but government spokeswoman Isabel Celaá described those instigating the violence as “co-ordinated young Catalans” whose actions were not improvised.

Read More

A 93-year-old man will go on trial in Germany on Thursday for crimes of complicity in mass murder at a Nazi death camp during World War Two.

Bruno Dey is accused of contributing to the killings of 5,230 prisoners between 1944 and 1945 in the Stutthof camp in what is now northern Poland.

Mr Dey has admitted serving there and having knowledge of atrocities being carried out at the camp. But the former guard said he was not complicit in any murders.

The trial is likely to be one of the last against a former Nazi guard. The hearings will be restricted to two-hour sessions of no more than twice a week, because of Mr Dey’s ill health. The prosecution alleges that Mr Dey – who was about 17 when posted to Stutthof – was one of the “cogs of the murder machine”.

German newspaper Der Spiegel reports that he is accused specifically of killing 5,000 people by creating and maintaining hostile conditions, 200 by gassing and 30 using a Genickschussanlage – a device for surprise executions with victims shot in the back of the neck.

Read More

Mexico has sent 80 soldiers and an army helicopter to the western Michoacán state after a shooting in which at least 13 police officers were killed.

The police were carrying out a court order in the town of El Aguaje when they were ambushed by gunmen on Monday. A powerful criminal group, the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel, is believed to have carried out the attack.

Separately, 14 armed civilians and a soldier died in a gunfight in the western state of Guerrero on Tuesday.

The state government said the soldiers were responding to an emergency call in the municipality of Tepochica, near the city of Iguala, when they were attacked by the gunmen and returned fire. It was not immediately known if the two attacks were related.

Also on Tuesday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said his tough policies on drug crime would eventually pay dividends. “I’m optimistic we’ll secure peace… we’re completely dedicated to this issue, but [past governments] allowed it to grow,” the president was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

Read More

More than a thousand children were caught with weapons in school last year, according to a survey of 29 police forces in England and Wales.

The weapons included knives, blades, knuckledusters and a Taser stun gun, the Press Association survey found. The children included a 14-year-old with a sword and a four-year-old with an unnamed weapon.

Head teachers’ leader Geoff Barton said the findings were “grim but unsurprising”. The survey, which follows concern about rising levels of knife crime, was based on Freedom of Information data from police forces.It found schoolchildren involved in incidents with many different types of bladed weapon, including lock knives, penknives, craft knives and garden shears.

In Bedfordshire, a pupil was caught in possession of a machete and in Manchester a samurai sword was recovered from school premises. Thames Valley police discovered a bayonet in a school and in the West Midlands, a 15-year-old was found in possession of an axe.

The figures showed 1,072 incidents involving weapons, up from 831 in the same areas in the previous year – but did not include statistics from the biggest force, the Metropolitan Police in London.

Read More

Hundreds of people have attended the funeral of a police officer who was killed on duty.

Uniformed colleagues of PC Andrew Harper lined the route as the cortege made its way to the private service at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford.

The newlywed 28-year-old died from multiple injuries when he was dragged under a van on a road near Sulhamstead, Berkshire, on 15 August.

Thames Valley Police Federation’s chairman said PC Harper was “a hero”. Paying tribute to PC Harper, who married his wife Lissie four weeks before his death, Craig O’Leary said he “loved being a police officer”. “It is our sad duty today to pay our last respects to him and support his wife Lissie, his family and his friends at his funeral,” he added.
Members of the public paid their respects as the cortege led by mounted officers travelled through Oxford before the service which was attended by 800 mourners.

The coffin was draped in a navy flag with a police crest on the side and was carried into the cathedral at 11:00 BST by six officers in full uniform.

Read More