Spanish Showdown: Catalonia To Declare Independence “In Days” Puidgemont Says Despite King’s Condemnation
As reported previously, in a sternly worded address to the nation, Spain’s King Felipe VI condemned organizers of Catalonia’s independence referendum for having put themselves “outside the law” and said the situation in Spain was “extremely serious”, calling for unity. In his address, King Felipe VI said Catalan leaders who organized the referendum showed their “disrespect to the powers of the state” adding that “they have broken the democratic principles of the rule of law.
“Today, the Catalan society is fractured,” the king said, warning that the poll could put at risk the economy of the wealthy autonomous north-eastern region and the whole of Spain. He said that Catalonia’s authorities, “have placed themselves outside the law and democracy, they have tried to break the unity of Spain and national sovereignty”. Offering firm backing to the Spanish government of Mariano Rajoy, Felipe said it was the “responsibility of the legitimate powers of the state to ensure the constitutional order.”
Felipe also said the Catalan government had “systematically violated the law, demonstrating a disloyalty that is inadmissible” and “undermined the harmony and coexistence in Catalan society”
But he stressed that Spain “will overcome difficult times”.
The address came on the same day as Barcelona’s roadways were blockaded amid a general strike as hundreds of thousands in Catalonia have been protesting over Spanish police violence during Sunday’s vote, in which nearly 900 people were hurt.
However, despite the King’s warning and hinting that a showdown, potentially violent, is coming, Catalan President Carles Puigdemont told the BBC the region will declare independence in a matter of days. In his first interview since the referendum, Carles Puigdemont said his government would “act at the end of this week or the beginning of next”.
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