Catalonia asks mediation with Spain over split vote
Balloting violence won’t stall region’s independence try.
BARCELONA, SPAIN —Cat-alan separatists called for international mediation with the Spanish government as they pushed ahead Monday with plans to declare unilateral independence this week after a violent police crackdown scarred a disputed secession referendum.
The referendum debacle only deepened Spain’s most serious political crisis since democratic rule was restored in 1978. The violence Sunday in the prosperous northeast- ern region left more than 890 civilians and 430 police injured when anti-riot squads moved into polling stations and dispersed voters.
Shocking videos and photos of police dragging peo- ple by the hair and kicking them were flashed around the globe, leading some European leaders to warn about any further escalation of violence.
Catalan leader Carles Puig- demont said a regional parlia- mentary commission would investigate why Spain’s antiriot squads fired rubber bullets, smashed into polling stations and beat protesters with batons to disperse voters in
the independence referendum that Spain opposed. He also urged the 5,000-strong contingent of special Spanish police forces deployed in Catalonia to leave.
Puigdemont called Monday for the European Union “to stop looking the other way” and urged Spanish Pr ime Minister Mariano Rajoy to accept international mediation in the crisis. He urged the EU to view Catalonia’s desire to break away from Spain as a Europe-wide issue.
“This is not a domestic issue. The need for mediation is evident,” Puigdemont said.
Calls for restraint came from across Europe, includ- ing EU chief Donald Tusk, who appealed to Rajoy to “avoid further escalation and use of force” while agreeing that the independence vote was invalid. Several human rights organizations called for an impartial investiga- tion into the violence.
Of the 893 civilians injured in the melee, two suffered serious wounds, Catalan he a lth authorities said. The Interior Ministry said 39 police received immedi-
ate medical treatment and 392 others had scrapes and bruises.
But Spanish authorities commended the police, say- ing their response to the voting was professional and proportionate. And Spain’s inte- rior minister said the 5,000 extra officers deployed to Catalonia would stay as long as necessary.
“I don’t think there was such a heavy hand, but in any case, they had to react,” said Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis, calling
the police reaction videos “a matter of interpretation.”
Speaking in Rome, Dastis said “some of the pictures are real, some of them are not real” but that police had simply responded when peo- ple prevented them from doing their job. Catalan officials say an
overwhelming majority of the 2.26 million who voted supported independence from Spain — they said 90
percent — but the central government in Madrid has repeatedly condemned the referendum as unconstitu- tional and invalid.
The Catalan president said the regional parliament will be asked to declare indepen- dence this weekend.
The euro and Spanish stocks fell Monday as investors tried to gauge what the weekend unrest in Catalo- nia means for the future of Spain and European unity.
Some Catalans said both sides bore some responsi- bility.
“I think both sides involved committed grave mistakes,” said Eric Tigra, 56. “But we must also highlight that if the people of Catalonia go out in the streets and you don’t listen to them, then something is not working right.”
In an editorial, the Spanish daily El Pais blamed the Catalan government for Sunday’s “shameful” events but also criticized the Spanish government for its inabil- ity to tackle the crisis that began about seven years ago.