Anti-Separatists Say They Set Fire in Spain

A group opposed to Catalan separatism claimed responsibility for a forest fire that forced hundreds of tourists to be evacuated by cable car from the mountaintop monastery of Montserrat on Monday.

The blaze cut roads and telephone links to the 9th Century monastery, a symbol of Catalan nationalism which houses the statue of the Black Virgin, the region’s patron saint.

Firemen later reopened one road to allow cars to come down through clouds of smoke.

A caller purporting to speak for the Catalan Militia group told the Barcelona newspaper Avui that the group set the fire to protest Catalan separatism and attacks by the Catalan guerrilla group Terra Lliure (Free Land), press sources said.