Spain threatens Catalan separatists as deadline looms

MADRID: Spain said on Wednesday it would take the unprecedented step of seeking to suspend Catalonia’s autonomy if the region’s leader does not abandon his independence bid, on the eve of his deadline to give a final answer.

Separatist leader Carles Puigdemont — whose banned independence referendum on Oct. 1 has sparked Spain’s worst political crisis in decades — has until 10 a.m. on Thursday to tell the central government in Madrid whether or not he is declaring a split from the rest of the country.

Unless he backs down, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said Madrid would trigger article 155 of Spain’s constitution, a never before used measure that could allow it to take direct control over semi-autonomous Catalonia.

It could allow Madrid to suspend Puigdemont’s regional government and eventually trigger new elections in Catalonia, but the move would risk further escalating a crisis that has sparked huge street rallies, rattled stock markets and deeply worried Spain’s EU partners.

“All I ask of Mr.Puigdemont is that he acts with good sense,” Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Parliament on Wednesday.

Puigdemont issued a cryptic “suspended” declaration of independence following the referendum, saying he wanted time for talks with the government — a prospect Madrid has rejected. told

Rajoy would need Senate approval to trigger article 155, but his conservative Popular Party has a majority there.

Jordi Xucla, a lawmaker from Catalonia’s ruling coalition, told Rajoy in Parliament that such a move would be “a serious mistake... its application would be difficult and questionable.”

The latest escalation came after tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Barcelona on Tuesday night after a court jailed two influential Catalan separatist leaders, Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sanchez, pending investigation into sedition charges.

Barcelona police said around 200,000 people massed in the city center calling for the release of the pair known as the “two Jordis,” who spent a second night behind bars Tuesday.

Shouting “freedom” and “independence,” the crowds lit candles, turning the boulevard into a sea of flickering lights.

“They want us to be afraid so we stop thinking of independence, but the opposite will happen. There are more of us every day,” Elias Houariz, a 22-year-old baker, told AFP at the rally.

Cuixart and Sanchez are the leaders of pro-independence citizens’ groups Omnium Cultural and the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) respectively, which count tens of thousands of members each and have emerged as influential players in the crisis.

They are accused of whipping up major demonstrations last month in the run-up to the referendum, when protesters blocked Spanish police for hours inside the Catalan administration’s offices as they were raiding the building.