Spanish PM criticises regional chief

Sanchez demands Torra to forcefully condemn unrest

BARCELONA, Oct 21, (RTRS): Spain’s acting prime minister visited Barcelona on Monday following a week of Catalan separatist unrest, shrugging off calls to meet pro-independence leaders and accusing the regional president of failing in his duty to restore order.

Pedro Sanchez’s visit to the regional capital was met by hundreds of peaceful protesters, who sang the Catalan anthem and waved placards urging him to “sit and talk” with the region’s pro-seccession government.

Barcelona has been hit by seven consecutive nights of sometimes violent protests following the jailing last week of nine Catalan separatists found guilty of sedition over their role in leading a failed 2017 drive for independence.

Ahead of his visit to meet with security forces and police officers injured in the protests, Sanchez accused Catalonia’s regional president Quim Torra of failing in his duty to protect public safety and to ensure a harmonious coexistence between the pro- and antiindependence camps.

In a toughly-worded letter sent early on Monday, Sanchez said Torra had “turned his back” on the security forces and he reiterated his demand that Torra must forcefully condemn the unrest.

Torra said in a statement at the weekend he had always condemned violence and criticised the prime minister for shunning dialogue.

The regional government said Torra had requested a meeting with Sanchez during his visit to Barcelona, but it was not clear if this would happen.

A small crowd of protesters greeted Sanchez as he arrived in Barcelona, blowing horns and yelling as he walked into the national police headquarters,

arguing that enlargement procedures should first be improved before allowing new countries into the 28-member bloc.

Mogherini wrote: “it is much more than a lost opportunity: it is a historic mistake, which I hope can be amended as soon as possible.” (AP)

Milan seeks US apology:

Milan’s which has been the focal point of much of the recent violence.

The interior ministry said on Sunday that 288 police had been hurt in the clashes and 194 people arrested.

The unrest in Catalonia comes as political parties in Spain gear up for a snap national election on Nov 10, the second vote this year.

The issue of Catalan independence has dominated the country’s fractured political debate in recent years and is likely to continue to do so in the run-up to next month’s ballot.

Replying to Sanchez’s letter on Monday, Torra asked for “dialogue without conditions”. His written response, which was released by his office, made no mention of the violence.

Reported

Spanish media reported that Torra tried to talk to Sanchez by telephone on both Saturday and Sunday, but was rebuffed.

A spokeswoman for the pro-independence party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), which is allied with Torra’s group, condemned Sanchez on Monday for not talking directly to the Catalan government.

“Sanchez is refusing dialogue for the umpteenth time. (This shows) disrespect to the people of Catalonia,” Marta Vilalta Torres said.

Separately, Spain’s high court said on Monday it had ordered a raid on the office of Gonzalo Boye, the lawyer for Catalonia’s ex-president Carles Puigdemont.

Spanish media said the raid was linked to another of the lawyer’s client, an alleged drug trafficker, and was not linked to Puigdemont himself.

But Puigdemont, who was head of the Spanish region during its failed 2017 bid to break away from Spain

mayor appealed Sunday to US authorities to apologize for a World War II bombing raid that killed 184 elementary school children.

Mayor Giuseppe Sala made the request following a Mass marking the 75th anniversary of the Gorla massacre, named for the quarter in the city that was struck, the news agency ANSA reported.

“I think it’s necessary that the American and now lives in self-imposed exile in Belgium, linked the raid to Spain’s efforts to extradite him.

“Now that we’re dealing with the third European (arrest) warrant, they try to make @boye_g’s work difficult. They will not succeed in doing so,” he wrote on Twitter

The raid took place one week after the Spanish Supreme Court issued a European arrest warrant for Puigdemont.

Boye did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hundreds of pro-independence protesters took to the streets of Barcelona for a seventh successive night on Sunday, with anger over the jailing of Catalan separatist leaders showing little sign of abating.

One large crowd blocked a road close to the Spanish government headquarters in Catalonia, throwing dozens of sacks of rubbish in front of stationary police vans. A smaller group shut off a major avenue to the east of the city.

However, there was no sign of the violence that has shaken Barcelona in recent days, particularly on Friday, when masked youths set fire to hundreds of garbage bins and hurled rocks, stones and bottles at security forces.

“We are people of peace,” said a sign held up by demonstrators on Meridiana Avenue.

Acting Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters earlier in the day that 288 police officers had been hurt in the clashes, 267 police vehicles damaged and 194 people arrested. Several hundred protesters were also hurt.

“The riots are diminishing, but we are working on stopping them altogether,” said Grande-Marlaska.

government apologizes, knowing that we are here to forgive,” Sala said, adding that he would formalize the request with the US consul in Milan this week.

The air raid on Oct 20, 1944, targeted an industrial complex near the city, but a second wave of bombers went off course and released their bombs southeast of the target to lighten their loads as they returned to base. One bomb struck the Francesco Crispi elementary school as children raced for shelter.

“It was a very serious error resulting, as history tells us, from an incredible superficiality and inexperience,” Sala said. (AP)

Greens surge in Swiss election:

Support for the Greens surged in Switzerland’s election on Sunday, moving politics to the left and putting environmentalists in the mix for a seat in the broad coalition that has governed the country for decades.

The far-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP) remained in first place, according to projections after the parliamentary election, but like other big parties lost ground as environmentalist parties seized on voters’ concerns about climate change to shake up the political establishment.

“It is not a green wave, it is a tsunami, a hurricane,” Celine Vara, deputy Greens leader who won a seat in the upper house of parliament for Neuchatel canton, told Swiss radio.

Far from the sea, Switzerland is especially vulnerable to climate change as temperatures in the country are rising twice as quickly as the global average. (RTRS)