Spain cracks down on Catalonia amid secession bid

In one of the most momentous days in recent Spanish history, lawmakers in the Catalan regional parliament voted to unilaterally declare independence on Friday, prompting a swift response by the Spanish government, which fired Catalonia’s political leaders, dissolved its parliament and called an early election in the region.

Hours after Catalonia’s secession move, the Spanish Senate granted the government special constitutional powers to stop the wealthy region’s move toward independence. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative government then called an urgent Cabinet meeting. In the evening, Rajoy emerged to announce the emergency measures to prevent Catalan secession, including regional elections called for Dec. 21. In Barcelona, Catalonia’s regional capital, the announcements were greeted with jeers and whistles of disapproval from crowds who had gathered at the gates of the government palace to celebrate their parliament’s moves toward independence earlier in the day. Catalan riot police stand by as anti-independence supporters march against the unilateral declaration of independence approved earlier by the Catalan parliament in downtown Barcelona Friday. Catalan lawmakers voted Friday to secede from Spain, shortly before Spain’s Senate approved a request by the central government to take direct control of Catalonia’s affairs.

“It’s not about suspending or meddling in the self-government (of Catalonia), but to return it to normality and legality as soon as possible,” Rajoy said in a televised address.

The government and Spain’s constitutional Court had said the secession bid was illegal.

Rajoy also said he was firing the head of the Catalan regional police, shutting down the Catalan

government’s overseas offices, and dismissing its representatives in Madrid and in Brussels, where the European Union has its headquarters.

After the Catalan parliament voted to back secession, Rajoy said it was a move that “in the opinion of a large majority of people not only goes against the law but is a criminal act.”

The Senate’s decision giving Rajoy special powers trumped the Catalan regional parliament’s independence vote, which was doomed because the constitutional Court has already consistently ruled against any steps toward secession.

The battle around Catalonia’s future is far from over, however. Madrid’s move to take away Catalonia’s regional powers was sure to be seen as a humiliation and a provocation by Catalans and a backlash was expected, with planned street protests, while regional government workers could follow a policy of disobedience or nonco-operation.

On top of that, the Dec. 21 election could deliver a steadfastly pro-independence Catalan parliament, even if recent polls have suggested the region of 7.5 million people is roughly evenly split on secession.

Many Catalans strongly oppose independence and a group of so-called unionists was organizing a large-scale protest in Barcelona on Sunday.