Spain threatens to send national police to Catalonia after protests

FILE PHOTO: People light up their mobile phones during a protest called by Catalan pro-independence movements ANC and Omnium Cultural to mark one year of the imprisonment of their leaders Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart, at Catalunya Square in Barcelona, Spain, Ocotber 16, 2018. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's interior minister said he would send national police to Catalonia if local authorities did not do more to stop protests like the one that shut down major highways over the weekend.

Fernando Grande-Marlaska accused the local Catalan police of doing nothing to prevent pro-independence protesters blocking the AP-7 toll road, which runs up Spain's Mediterranean coast, for more than 15 hours on Saturday.