CATALANS PRESS FOR OCT REFERENDUM
Regional leader says contingency plans in place to ensure vote goes ahead
MADRID
THE Catalan regional leader on Thursday said he would press on with an Oct 1 referendum on a split from Spain, flouting a court ban, as tens of thousands gathered for a second day on the streets of Barcelona demanding the right to vote.
Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said he had contingency plans in place to ensure the vote would go ahead, directly defying Madrid and pushing the country closer to political crisis.
Spain’s Constitutional Court banned the vote this month, after Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said it violated Spain’s 1978 constitution, which states the country is indivisible. Most opposition parties are also against the vote.
“All the power of the Spanish state is set up to prevent Catalans voting,” Puigdemont said in a televised address.
“We will do it because we have contingency plans in place to ensure it happens, but above all because it has the support of the immense majority of the population, who are sick of the arrogance and abuse of the People’s Party government.”
On Thursday, tens of thousands gathered outside the seat of Catalonia’s top court in Barcelona to protest the arrests of senior officials in police raids on regional government offices on Wednesday.
“This is a step back for democracy,” said one of them, pensioner Enric Farro, 62. “This is the kind of thing that happened years ago. It shouldn’t be happening now.”
State police arrested Catalonia’s junior economy minister, Josep Maria Jove, on Wednesday, in an unprecedented raid of regional government offices.
Acting on court orders, police have also raided printers, newspaper offices and private delivery companies in a search for campaign literature, instruction manuals for manning voting stations and ballot boxes.
Polls show about 40 per cent of Catalans support independence for the wealthy northeastern region, and a majority want a referendum on the issue. Puigdemont had said there was no minimum turnout for the vote and he would declare independence within 48 hours of a “yes” result.
A central government spokesman said protests in Catalonia were organised by a small group and did not represent the general feeling of the people.
The Interior Ministry said it was sending more state police to Catalonia to maintain order and make sure the banned referendum did not take place.
Catalonia has its police, called the Mossos d’Esquadra, though the state police Guardia Civil has quarters throughout the region and often works alongside them.
The ministry did not disclose how many more police officers it was sending to the region, but Spanish media said between 3,000 and 4,000 had already arrived or were on their way.
They would join the roughly 5,000 state police normally stationed in Catalonia and around 17,000 Mossos officers.
“They will be tasked with surveillance of public space and maintaining order, and they will act in case the illegal referendum is maintained,” the ministry said.
They would act as a backup for the Mossos, who will remain in charge, it said. Reuters