Puigdemont cheered by 200 Catalan mayors in Brussels

CARLES PUIGDEMONT, the ousted Catalan president, yesterday vowed to triumph in the elections Madrid has called to replace his sacked government in an address to hundreds of Catalonia’s mayors in Brussels.

Speaking at an art gallery in the capital of the European Union, Mr Puigdemont and his allies criticised the EU’S “deafening silence” over Spain’s worst constitutional crisis since the return of democracy in the Seventies. His regional government declared independence after an illegal Oct 1 referendum, which was marred by police brutality.

About 170 Catalan mayors arrived in Brussels yesterday in a single plane. Another 30 or so drove from Catalonia to Brussels, to hear Mr Puigdemont.

He was given a rapturous reception by the ardently pro-independence audience who waved flags, chanted “Liberty” and “president, president” before singing the Catalan anthem, while holding aloft walking sticks – the symbol of mayoral power in Spain.

Mr Puigdemont said Catalonia had “one path to becoming a republic – via democracy”. He demanded that both Madrid and the EU respect the result of the Dec 21 elections.

Mr Puigdemont fled to Belgium last week as Madrid moved to regain control of the breakaway region, one of the richest in Spain. He is now subject to a European Arrest Warrant and faces 30 years in prison for rebellion, sedition and embezzlement if convicted.

Earlier, the mayors congregated outside the European Commission’s headquarters in the heart of Brussels’ EU quarter to sing their anthem. One demonstrator waved an EU flag with the stars cut out, while another carried a placard asking if Hitler, Stalin or Cardinal Richelieu was in charge of the bloc.