Thousands demand Spanish, Catalan leaders negotiate

BARCELONA, SPAIN » Thousands rallied in Madrid and Barcelona on Saturday in a last-itch call for Spanish and Catalan leaders to reat to secede. The rallies in the Spanish capital and the talan city were held with the slogan "Shall e Talk?" in an effort to push lawmakers in h cities to end months of silence and start negotiating. Attendees respected the organizers' call to not bring the Spanish or Catalan flag. Catalonia's regional president Carles Puigdemont has vowed to make good on the results of last Sunday's disputed referendum secession won by the Yes side. Spanish ime Minister Mariano Rajoy warned that e vote was illegal and has promised that talonia is going nowhere. Protestors packed Barcelona's Sant Jaume square where the Catalan government has is presidential palace, shouting "We want talk!" and holding signs saying "More Negotiation, Less Testosterone!" and "Talk or sign!" "We have to find a new way forward," id Miguel Iceta, the leader of Spain's Socialist party in Catalonia. "It's the moment listen to the people who are asking for e problem to be solved through an agreement, and without precipitated and unilateral decisions:' The gathering around Madrid's Cibeles ountain boasted a huge banner demand-that leaders start talkin . Some people chanted "Less hate, and more understand-ing" In a separate rally in Madrid's Colon Square, thousands clamored for the unity of Spain and against any attempt by the north-eastern region to break away. The crowd bristled with Spanish flags. Pro-union forces will try to generate momentum on Sunday in a protest in Barcelona. Other protests asking for dialogue were held in cities including Valencia, Bilbao, Pamplona and Sanitago de Compostela, news agency Europa Press reported. The calls for dialogue and unity come af-ter a traumatic week, with riot police storm-ing several polling stations in an unsuccess-ful attempt to impede the referendum. In-stead, hundreds of voters were left in need of medical attention. Even though 2.2 million Catalan voted —with 90 percent backing independence— the referendum polled less than half of the re-gion's electorate. Puigdemont declared he would seek a declaration of independence in the regional parliament anyway. The bloodied vote was followed by a strike on lliesday across Catalonia to protest the police violence. Then came the stern message from Spain's King Felipe VI that the Cata-lan government and parliament were break-ing the law. Puigdemont and his separatist supporters were struck a blow when Catalonia's top two banks, CaixaBank and Banco Sabadell, as well as energy giant Gas Natural announced they were relocating their headquarters from Catalonia to other parts of Spain. Other com anies are considerin: such a move to ensure that the region's possible se cession wouldn't knock them out of the E ropean Union and its lucrative common mar ket. Spain's Minister of Public Works Inigo d la Serna said on Saturday that "the comp nics will keep leaving and it's exclusively fault of the members of the regional govern ment." The warnings by the business sector ha coincided with the first calls from withi Puigdemont's government to hold off on declaration of independence. Santi Vila, Catalonia's regional chief fo business, told Cadena SER Radio late Frida that he's pushing for "a new opportunity fo dialogue" with Spanish authorities. "We have to give it one more chance maybe the last chance, and perhaps the onl way that can happen is to start with a cease fire," Vila said. Vila said he would like to see Spanish au thorities return powers to the region wh' they have assumed in recent weeks, includ ing control of a large part of its finances. It is unclear how widespread Vila's mod erate position is inside the Catalan govern ment, which is being pressured by separat ist grassroots groups and the far-left part CUP to declare independence soon. Separatist lawmakers had planned to dis cuss a secession plan on Monday, but tha session in the regional parliament was sus pended by the Constitutional Court. The focus has shifted to Tuesday, wh Puigdemont is set to address the region parliament "to report on the current politi cal situation."