Catalan separatist leaders go on trial

ACTIVISTS CHARGED WITH REBELLION

A TRIAL against a dozen Catalan separatist politicians and activists has got under way at Spain’s Supreme Court amid protests by pro-independence supporters.

The defendants are being tried on rebellion and other charges stemming from their roles in pushing ahead with a unilateral independence declaration in 2017.

The declaration was based on the results of a divisive secession referendum that ignored a constitutional ban.

The trial, arguably Spain’s most important in four decades of democracy, began as the future of prime minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority government hinges on last-minute negotiations with Catalan pro-independence parties to back his 2019 budget. Mr Sanchez could be forced to call an early election if the Catalan separatists, whose support brought the Socialists to power last year, do not change their position of voting against the prime minister’s spending plan today.

The separatists want him to agree to talks on self-determination for their region, but the government argues that the country’s constitution does not allow it.

Tensions between regional and central authorities peaked with the 2017 breakaway attempt but the conflict has been festering ever since.

Yesterday, pro-independence protesters briefly blocked roads before the trial began in Madrid.

Pro-independence demonstrators are removed by Catalan police officers, during a sit-down protest outside the Barcelona office of the state prosecutor