Spain considers suspending Catalan autonomy after riots

PEDRO SANCHEZ, the Spanish prime minister, has challenged Quim Torra, the Catalan leader, to rein in secessionist activists and condemn the violence that has broken out at protests against the jailing of pro-independence politicians by Spain’s Supreme Court.

Following Tuesday night’s violence, in which about 50 police were injured in battles with protesters across cities in Catalonia, Mr Sanchez met leaders of other Spanish political forces to prepare a response to the crisis.

According to sources from his office, the prime minister told opposition leaders he was “ruling nothing out” – leaving open the options of taking control of security from Mr Torra’s regional government or even suspending Catalonia’s autonomy statute.

But Mr Torra refused to condemn the violence after a night in which pitched battles broke out between demonstrators and security forces. In Barcelona alone, more than 150 streets were blocked by flaming barricades.

Yesterday, high-speed train services from Barcelona to the French border were inoperable after a cable was cut, and protesters again blocked roads in the region.

The turmoil followed the jailing of separatist leaders for up to 13 years for

‘No idea in politics or in life justifies violence… neither the unity of Spain nor the independence of Catalonia’

sedition, and for campaign violations relating to an illegal independence referendum in October 2017.

Yesterday Mr Torra limited himself to saying he and his government were “on the people’s side”, although, he added, “violence never represents us”. Pere Aragonés, Catalonia’s deputy president, called for “calm and responsibility”. Gabriel Rufián, an MP from the pro-independence Catalan Republican Left party, went further, saying: “No idea in politics or in life justifies violence. Neither the unity of Spain nor the independence of Catalonia justify violence.”

An organisation called Tsunami Democràtic, which organised a blockade at Barcelona’s airport, said it would not call for new action for 10 days, blaming “police brutality” for the loss of discipline by some protesters.

Opposition leaders in Spain, however, demanded Mr Sanchez’s socialist government clamp down on “Catalan defiance of Spanish law”.

After meeting Mr Sanchez, Pablo Casado, the conservative popular party leader, said Spain should order Mr Torra to come into line or see his regional government shut down, as it was for seven months after the referendum.

Spain will have its fourth general election in as many years on Nov 10, and the Catalan crisis is likely to have a bearing on the result.