A Catalan carnival float has drawn criticism for depicting children as baton-wielding Spanish police, as tensions surrounding the independence crisis burst into this year’s parades.

The float, styled as the much-mocked cruise ship on which Spanish police were deployed to Catalonia in October, drew cheers of delight from many onlookers as it rolled through the town of Torrelles de Llobregat.

But critics seized on the float - manned by around a dozen children in full riot gear and bedecked with the independence flag - as another example of what they say is rampant political indoctrination in Catalonia.

The Societat Civil Catalana, a Catalan anti-independence group, denounced the float as “unbelievable”, while others complained secessionists were “using” children for political purposes.

AEB Catalunya, an organisation campaigning against the predominance of Catalan language in schools, suggested an “adult indoctrinator” was behind the float.