Spain's ministry of defence, and in particular, the Spanish Legion military unit, have announced that they will open investigations into the soldiers who on Saturday were photographed drinking beer at a Catalan bar terrace, with their long-barreled automatic weapons beside them, according to the COPE radio station.

Spanish Army troops in Catalonia with automatic weapons and a couple of beers... pic.twitter.com/vX7wkttpVG — Josep Lluís Alay 🎗 (@josepalay) 28 de setembre de 2019

Spanish army sources have confirmed to the radio station that "everything seems to indicate that it is a company of Legionnaires" and that the group of soldiers had been participating in operations in France. Photographs that have gone viral on social media, showing the soldiers drinking beer, with their weapons at their feet, in the town of Vilafranca near Barcelona would have taken when the troops were making a "technical stop" on their homeward journey.

These same military sources have stated that "an investigation will be opened and if the rules have been broken, the appropriate disciplinary measures will be taken." They indicated that the breach of regulations of these Spanish soldiers appeared to have been that they got off the bus with their arms and then consumed alcoholic beverages.

The sharing of the images generated intense controversy on social media. The local Vilafranca branches of political parties ERC and the CUP demanded explanations and called for the Spanish military to leave Catalonia. The CUP tweet also included an image of the soldiers taking their weapons with them to a local supermarket.

Avui ens hem trobat amb la presència d’un grup de militars espanyols a la nostra vila.



No volem militars ni a Vilafranca ni enlloc!



Que se’n vagin! pic.twitter.com/vp3ZNITjfk — CUP Vilafranca 🎗 (@cupvila) 28 de setembre de 2019

‼️ FORA L’EXÈRCIT DE VILAFRANCA



Aquest dissabte desenes de militars s’han passejat impunement per Vilafranca. Des d’Esquerra Republicana 👇🏼



1⃣ REBUTGEM la presència de l’exèrcit espanyol a la vila. — ERC Vilafranca (@ERCVilafranca) 28 de setembre de 2019

The ERC party also asked for an explanations by the Spanish government's delegate in Catalonia, Teresa Cunillera. "We denounce the strategy of the 1978 [Spanish] regime of scaring the Catalan population through military deployments in the streets," said the ERC's tweet thread.

Vilafranca mayor Pere Regull (JxCat party) told local media 3devuit.cat that he will demand an explanation "for sending more than one hundred soldiers with weapons and working equipment to Vilafranca without having informed the Mossos police and Catalan authorities."

After the initial reaction of shock at the images by social media users, there was speculation that the uniformed men were taking part in a Paintball or Airsoft activity, or a stag party. But it has turned out that they are part of the elite Spanish Legion military unit once headed by Francisco Franco.

News portal Newtral has reported that the soldiers are members of the Spanish Legion who had been on exercises in the French city of Étain, near the Belgian frontier, and were travelling to Ronda, in Andalusia. They were likely to have stopped at Vilafranca for a change of drivers.