A man has been killed for wearing braces in the colours of the Spanish flag a week before Catalonia goes to the polls.

Víctor Láinez, 55, died from multiple injuries after being kicked and struck repeatedly on the head with a metal bar.

Witnesses said he was attacked by three men outside a bar in Zaragoza who shouted “fascist” because he was wearing yellow and red braces.

Rodrigo Lanza, 33, the grandson of a Chilean admiral under General Pinochet’s dictatorship, was arrested in connection with the killing. Mr Lanza has no links to the Catalan separatist movement but is a known anarchist.

After riot police clashed with voters during an illegal secession referendum in October, Catalan authorities said hundreds of people were hurt, a claim