Vote for independence lights fuse for Catalan showdown with Madrid
BARELY six hours after the Catalan parliament voted in favour of an independent republic, Spanish Premier Mariano Rajoy announced the sacking of the entire Catalan government, the Catalan police chief, and called snap elections for the region on 21 December.
Mr Rajoy had been authorised yesterday by the Spanish senate to impose measures of direct rule in Catalonia under the auspices of article 155 of the Spanish constitution. Mr Rajoy said that the Catalan parliament was to be dissolved, and Catalan embassies abroad also are to be closed down. “We have enough means to restore legal normality in a pacific, moderate way,” insisted Mr Rajoy.
The Catalan secession crisis took its most dramatic turn to date yesterday when the regional parliament voted in favour of an independent Catalan republic, and 45 minutes later, the Spanish Senate granted Madrid the right to direct rule in the would-be breakaway region.
One by one yesterday afternoon, members of Catalonia’s regional parliament walked down the steps of the debating chamber, then passed their vote, written on paper to maintain anonymity, up to an official on the Speaker’s desk to be dropped into a wooden ballot box. The final vote count was 70 in favour of an independent Catalonia to 10 against, with two abstentions.
But in a symptom of the depth of the fracture within Catalan society over independence, nearly all the opposition parties had already abandoned the chamber in protest before the vote took place, leaving behind them only Catalan and Spanish flags draped over their empty seats.
The outcome of the vote, nonetheless, was given a rapturous welcome by thousands of pro-independence supporters waiting in warm sunshine outside the parliament. Among them were dozens of mayors from towns and villages who had travelled specially to Barcelona, many with their ceremonial staff of office, to express their support for secession.
When the vote was confirmed, many broke into spontaneous renditions of El Segadors, the Catalan national anthem, even as inside, nationalist MPs were doing the same.
Later in the day the huge crowds surrounding the parliament and slowly moved across to the Plaza San Jaume, where both the regional government and Barcelona town are located.
By mid-evening mood in the old quarter surrounding the plaza remained largely good humoured with impromptu firework displays, loud music and a plethora of Catalan flags on displays, even when news began to filter through of the measures taken by Mr Rajoy.
“The people are the motor of any country and they will be here when they need to be,” said one middle-aged nationalist, Pep Gracia, standing in a nearby street, when asked how he felt about the possible measures. “We’re very used to the Spanish reacting strongly. And it’s the people who will handle matters, not the [regional] government. Look at where the people are, standing around calmly here in the street. Yesterday we were a monarchy, today we’re a republic. It’s nothing to get too uptight about.”
Meanwhile just 45 minutes after yesterday’s pro-independence vote in Barcelona, in Madrid, the Senate voted in favour of giving the Spanish government unprecedented sweeping powers for direct rule in Catalonia.
In London, Theresa May also made it clear the British Government would not support the separatist movement. In a statement released by Downing Street the Prime Minister said: “The UK does not and will not recognise the Unilateral Declaration of Independence made by the Catalan regional parliament. It is based on a vote that was declared illegal by the Spanish courts. We continue to want to see the rule of law upheld, the Spanish Constitution respected, and Spanish unity preserved,” Ms May added.
Germany also said it would not recognise the legality of the independence referendum. Berlin supported the “clear position” of Prime Minister Rajoy in his bid to restore calm and order, a government spokesperson said.