Catalan leader tells Spanish king ‘You have disappointed people’
● Puigdemont also claims Madrid is ‘irresponsible’ for not entering talks
The leader of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, has accused King Felipe VI of following the Spanish central government’s “catastrophic” policies towards the region.
The Catalan president called the central government “irresponsible” for not accepting mediation during the political crisis.
Mr Puigdemont’s government is considering when it will declare independence from Spain in the wake of a disputed referendum which triggered the country’s worst national crisis in decades.
He has said an independence declaration will come within a few days, but Spain, which declaredsunday’sreferendum illegal and invalid, is bitterly opposed to any such move.
In a televised speech last night, Mr Puigdemont condemned violence by police who tried to halt Sunday’s referendum.
“We held the referendum amid an unprecedented repression and in the following days we will show our best face to apply the results of the referendum,” he said.
And he told the king: “You have disappointed many Catalans.”
Spain’s conservative government, led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, has said it will respond with “all necessary measures” to counter Catalan defiance, and is holding talks with opposition leaders in Madrid to forge a consensus over what to do.
Led by losses for the two main Catalan banks, Spain’s main stock market index lost almost three percentage points in yesterday’s trading amid uncertainty over how the secession bid will proceed.
Other Spanish banks, along with telecoms giant Telelefonica, fashion retailer Inditex and leading energy companies Repsol, Iberdrola and Gas Natural also suffered significant losses.
0 Catalan president Carles Puigdemont spoke last night
The crisis in Spain grew more acute on Sunday when some 900 people needed medical attention after police cracked down to try to prevent the vote. More than 400 police also had bruises. On Tuesday, huge crowds held street protests in Catalonia and unions staged a strike to protest the police’s actions.
Mr Rajoy has said any dialogue can only happen within the limits of the Spanish Constitution, which doesn’t allow a region to secede.
Catalans, however, say they have earned the right to be considered a national entity and refuse any talks that don’t explore a way for independence.
Even when calling for dialogue, European leaders have sided with Spain.
European Commission vicepresident Frans Timmermans yesterday called for a negotiated end to the political deadlock, but said there is a “general consensus that regional government of Catalonia has chosen to ignore the law when organising the referendum”.
If the prosperous north-eastern region does try to secede, Spain could intervene to take over the regional government or it could even declare a state of emergency and impose martial law.
In his televised address on Tuesday night, Spain’s King Felipe VI came out strongly against Catalan authorities, criticising their “irresponsible conduct”. The Spanish state, he went on, needed to ensure constitutional order and the rule of law in Catalonia, the richest region of Spain.
Catalan authorities say some 2.3 million people – less than half the region’s electorate – voted in the referendum Sunday. Many of those opposed to independence are thought to have stayed at home after the referendum was ordered suspended by a Spanish court. Of those who voted, some 90 percent backed independence, according to Catalan officials.
Xavier Garcia Albiol, the top politician in Catalonia of Spain’s governing party, called yesterday for Catalans who want to stay inside Spain to join a rally on Sunday in Barcelona, the region’s main city.