Door opened to declaration of independence
Results of chaotic Catalan vote to go to regional parliament
Catalonia’s regional leader has opened the door to a unilateral declaration of independence from Spain after voters defied a violent police crackdown and, according to regional officials, voted 90 per cent in favour of breaking away.
Despite Spanish police using batons and rubber bullets to disrupt the banned referendum, which was declared unconstitutional by Madrid, the Catalan Government said 2.26 million people had cast ballots, a turnout of about 42 per cent.
Carles Puigdemont’s comments followed a television address by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy who ruled out independence and accused separatists of trying to “blackmail ... the whole nation”. He offered all-party talks on the region’s future.
Catalan officials say more than 800 people were injured in clashes with Spanish riot police during the referendum, which has pitched the country into its deepest constitutional crisis in decades and deepened a rift between Madrid and Barcelona.
“On this day of hope and suffering, Catalonia’s citizens have earned the right to have an independent state in the form of a republic,” Puigdemont said in a televised address. “My Government, in the next few days will send the results of today’s vote to the Catalan Parliament, where the sovereignty of our people lies, so that it can act in accordance with the law of the referendum.”
The law of the referendum, deemed unconstitutional by Madrid, foresees a unilateral declaration of independence by the Catalan Parliament if the majority votes to leave Spain. The law does not set a minimum turnout for the outcome to be valid.
Earlier yesterday, the streets of Catalonia, an industrial and tourism powerhouse accounting for a fifth of Spain’s economy, erupted into violence. In the run-up to the referendum, Puigdemont had said he would move to a declaration of independence within 48 hours of a “yes” vote. But the fragmented nature of the polling, with many voting stations closed, could complicate any move to a formal declaration.
Puigdemont called on Europe to step in to make sure fundamental rights were fully respected.
Catalan officials said 844 people had been injured in the police crackdown and the Spanish Interior Ministry said 12 police officers had been hurt.
“I propose that all political parties with parliamentary representation meet and, together, reflect on the future we all face,” Rajoy said. Rajoy praised the Spanish police, saying they acted with “firmness and serenity”.
The European Union remained conspicuously silent on the police tactics, which included masked officers smashing their way into polling stations and forcibly removing ballot boxes. Video footage showed officers from the national police — 4000 of whom had been brought in — fighting with elderly voters, some of whom were left bleeding, and dragging young women away from polling stations by their hair. Uniformed Catalan firefighters appeared to act as human shields to protect voters from police.
Belgian Prime Minister, Charles Michel, called for political dialogue to resolve the crisis, tweeting: “Violence can never be the answer!” German Chancellor Angela Merkel phoned Rajoy, according to Die Welt. Spain did not waver in its assertion that the referendum — which was suspended by order of the Spanish constitutional court — was illegal, and maintained that its hand had been forced by a Catalan Government it claimed was engaged in a coup.
Rajoy said: “We did what we had to do,” and described the ballot as a “premeditated attack on the legality of the Spanish state faced down with serenity by the forces of order. Democracy won today because the constitution was upheld”.
But human rights groups contended that regardless of the legality of the poll, the heavy-handed response went beyond what was unacceptable in a 21stcentury democracy. Andrew Stroehlein, of Human Rights Watch, said that despite the court suspension, the Government had a duty to protect the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. — Telegraph Group Ltd, Reuters, AAP