Catalans declare independence
Protesters react as they watch the parliament session on a huge screen during a rally outside the Catalan Parliament, in Barcelona, Spain, yesterday. Catalonias' regional Parliament passed a motion to establish an independent Catalan Republic.
Spain faced a territorial showdown yesterday with dueling votes over the future of Catalonia. Lawmakers in the regional parliament voted to secede and establish an independent Catalan Republic — an extraordinary move met moments later by a Spanish Senate vote to authorise the government to take control of the prosperous northeastern region.
A majority of senators gave Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy the go-ahead to apply unprecedented constitutional measures, including firing Catalan regional President Carles Puigdemont and his Cabinet and curtailing Catalan parliamentary powers.
It will be the first time in four decades of democratic rule in Spain that the national government in Madrid will directly run the affairs of one of the country’s 17 semi-autonomous regions, a move that will likely fan the flames of the Catalan revolt.
A spokesman with the central government said Rajoy’s Cabinet would enact the measures immediately during an urgent meeting later yesterday. The spokesman requested anonymity because he wasn’t allowed to be named in the media.
In Barcelona, the main city in Catalonia, the vote on the motion to secede was approved with 70 in favour of independence, 10 against and two blank ballots in Catalonia’s 135-member parliament.
Separatist lawmakers in the regional parliament erupted in applause and chants when the chamber’s main speaker, Carme Forcadell, announced the motion passed. Lawmakers stood to chant the Catalan anthem, joined by dozens of guests, while Puigdemont and his vice president, Oriol Junqueras, exchanged congratulatory embraces and handshakes.
Outside the parliament, thousands who had gathered to call for independence cheered at the news, with some dancing and raising glasses to toast the vote after seeing the vote-counting live on a giant screen.
The motion that passed calls for beginning an independence process that includes drafting new key laws for Catalonia and opening negotiations “on equal footing” with Spanish authorities to establish cooperation.
Rajoy, who had delivered an impassioned speech at the Senate in Madrid earlier yesterday urging the body to let his government take control of the region, immediately called for citizens to keep their heads.
Rajoy says the measures to take over Catalan affairs are aimed at restoring order and has promised to call a new regional election once that is achieved.
No country has expressed support for independence for Catalonia, a region of 7.5 million people. Catalonia represents a fifth of Spain’s gross domestic product and polls show its people roughly evenly divided over independence. The regional government said a disputed 1 October referendum, which was banned by Spain’s Constitutional Court, had given it the mandate to declare independence.
Rajoy said his government’s first move would be to dismiss Puigdemont and his regional ministers if the Senate approves the Spanish government’s use of Article 155 of the Constitution. The special measures, he said, were the only way out of the crisis, adding that Spain wasn’t trying to take away liberties from Catalans but instead trying to protect them.
A spokesman with Spain’s prosecutor office, meanwhile, said the prosecutor would seek rebellion charges for those responsible for the Catalan independence vote.
The prosecutor was looking to determine if only the Catalan cabinet, including Puigdemont and Junqueras, will be charged, or if the target that would also include members of the parliament’s governing board and lawmakers, the spokesman said on condition of anonymity following internal rules.
He said the charges could be brought as early as Monday.
Under Spanish criminal law, rebellion can be punished by up to 25 years in prison, with shorter penalties if the rebellion doesn’t lead to violence.