Catalonia has 'won right to statehood'

[The Sandman]

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont says the Spanish region has won the right to statehood following a contentious referendum that was marred by violence.

He said the door had been opened to a unilateral declaration of independence.

Catalan officials later said 90% of those who voted backed independence in Sunday's vote. The turnout was 42.3%.

Spain's constitutional court had declared the poll illegal and hundreds of people were injured as police used force to try to block voting.

Officers seized ballot papers and boxes at polling stations.

"With this day of hope and suffering, the citizens of Catalonia have won the right to an independent state in the form a republic," Mr Puigdemont said in a televised address flanked by other senior Catalan leaders.

"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."

He said the European Union could no longer "continue to look the other way".

In another development, more than 40 trade unions and Catalan associations called a region-wide strike on Tuesday due to "the grave violation of rights and freedoms".

Earlier, as voting ended, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Catalans had been fooled into taking part in an illegal vote. He called it a "mockery" of democracy.

"At this hour I can tell you in the strongest terms what you already know and what we have seen throughout this day. There has not been a referendum on self-determination in Catalonia," he said.

Large crowds of independence supporters gathered in the centre of the regional capital Barcelona on Sunday evening, waving flags and singing the Catalan anthem. Anti-independence protesters have also held rallies in Barcelona and other Spanish cities.

How bad was the violence?
The Catalan government said more than 800 people had been injured in clashes across the region. Those figures included people who had suffered relatively minor complaints such as anxiety attacks.

The Spanish interior ministry said 12 police officers had been hurt and three people arrested. It added that 92 polling stations had been closed.

In Girona, riot police smashed their way into a polling station where Mr Puigdemont was due to vote, and forcibly removed those inside. Mr Puigdemont voted at another station.

The BBC's Tom Burridge in Barcelona witnessed police being chased away from one polling booth after they had raided it.

TV footage showed riot police using batons to beat a group of firefighters who were protecting crowds in Girona.

The national police and Guardia Civil - a military force charged with police duties - were sent into Catalonia in large numbers to prevent the vote.

The Catalan police - the Mossos d'Esquadra - have been placed under Madrid's control, however witnesses said they showed little inclination to use force on protesters.

Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau condemned police actions against the region's "defenceless" population, but Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said police had "acted with professionalism and in a proportionate way".

How much voting took place?
Catalan authorities said 319 of about 2,300 polling stations across the region had been closed by police while the Spanish government said 92 stations had been closed.

Announcing the results, the Catalan government said about 2.26 million of Catalonia's 5.34 million voters had been able to cast their ballot.

Since Friday, thousands of people have occupied schools and other buildings designated as polling stations in order to keep them open.

Many of those inside were parents and their children, who remained in the buildings after the end of lessons on Friday and bedded down in sleeping bags on gym mats.

Catalonia, a wealthy region of 7.5 million people in north-eastern Spain, has its own language and culture.

It also has a high degree of autonomy, but is not recognised as a separate nation under the Spanish constitution.

@Nilgiri @Vergennes @Desert Fox

 

[gangsta_rap]

azad catalonia zindabad!

 

[randomradio]

It's always a dumb move to break up.

 

[ashok321]

Within one of these days there will be a declaration of independence by Catalonian authorities, and subsequent chaos to follow thereafter. The interesting thing is that the Brussels (de facto capital of EU) is still tongue-tied.

 

[Trango Towers]

Isnt it laughable that the west propagate democracy and right to freedom yet here they use violence to prevent a vote injuring 800.

Double standards of the white people

 

[maximuswarrior]

EU looks away as Catalan crisis unfolds

So where the cries of outrage? Where the statements of condemnation, the tweets of shock at the violence meted out on the voters of Catalonia at the hands of the Spanish police?

In the chancelleries of Europe, there has been an echoing silence. Most heads of government - who feel quite able to respond to the slightest turn of the Brexit saga - appear to have lost their tongues.

The Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, said that "violence can never be the answer". The Slovenian prime minister, Miro Cerar, said he was "concerned". But these two seemed to be the exceptions that proved the rule.

One could explain this collective omertà on the usual diplomatic niceties about EU countries not intervening in each others' domestic politics.

But there is so much more to it than that.

First, many EU nations fear that if Catalonia won its independence, then that would encourage other separatist movements in their own countries. Many of Europe's nations are relatively young conglomerations of ethnicities and languages and territories.

The last thing they would want is the integrity of their own states being threatened. Think northern Italy, Corsica, Flanders and the south Tyrol.

Second, there is a question of consistency. How could an EU that opposed independence for, say, the Kurds or Crimea suddenly decide to welcome it for the Catalans? The EU would find it hard to back a vote for self-determination that had been so clearly ruled illegal by a country's constitutional court.

But third, and most importantly, the EU is fundamentally opposed to separatist movements in principle. They are seen as a threat to what is still a club of sovereign nations. Suddenly having one member divide in two would create huge problems for officials in Brussels.

Should an independent Catalonia join the EU? Should it join the euro? What would happen if Spain blocked Catalonia's membership? What would happen to Spain's economy shorn of the Catalonian powerhouse that produces 20% of the country's wealth. What would happen to Spain's sovereign debts?

And what of Britain? Opposition politicians called on the government to intervene and speak out. The Lib Dem leader Vince Cable called for the Spanish ambassador to be summoned. But the Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, merely tweeted that the referendum was a matter for Spain, its constitution should be respected, and the country was a close ally and good friend. He did admit to Reuters that he was "worried" about the violence but there was no actual condemnation.

Now this is hardly surprising. The British government, of course, has had to deal with its own independence referendum in recent years and may be unwilling to do anything to encourage or provoke the Scottish National Party that has been on the back foot of late.

But also, as the Brexit negotiations progress, the UK has no desire to provoke a European ally unnecessarily. There is no national interest in upsetting Madrid whose support Theresa May will need in the months and years ahead .

And yet there is a paradox in all this. We are told constantly that the problems of today are global, that economic crisis, climate change, terrorism and migration can be tackled only by supranational action.

Yet here we have, once again, people and politicians turning instead to the nation state as the answer to their problems. The Catalonian separatists believe their interests will be best served by forming their own country independent of Spain.

The government in Madrid sees Catalan independence as a fundamental threat to the constitutional Spanish state that emerged from dictatorship in the 1970s. And a European Union that gives daily lip service to the idea of breaking down the boundaries between its members looks silently away as one of its number uses state violence to protect the integrity of its borders.

Four centuries ago, the Treaty of Westphalia established the principle that the sovereign state should be the building block of world affairs, the best way of promoting the interests of the peoples within their borders.

And four centuries on, this is the one principle on which the politicians in Catalonia and Madrid have common ground. Both sides are nationalist in their own way. Their disagreement is merely one of geography.

The crisis in Spain has shown that, like Mark Twain, reports about the death of the nation state have been much exaggerated.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-europe-41464712

 

[T-123456]

Yes,Catalunya is situated in one of the most dangerous regions of the world,poor Catalans,i hope one day,they will be free.
Many Catalans will try to cross the dangerous Mediterranean Sea in rubber dinghy's to Africa and the ME to seek refuge there,some will drown and others will hopefully make it but since the African Union countries closed the ''doors'' to refugees from Europe,many will be sent back.
A very sad situation.

 

[maximuswarrior]

A big Europeans crisis is in the making. From Brexit to nationalism rearing its head. If we thought that everything was calm and peaceful we are badly mistaken. Trump will only accelerate the process.

 

[war&peace]

Within one of these days there will be a declaration of independence by Catalonian authorities, and subsequent chaos to follow thereafter. The interesting thing is that the Brussels (de facto capital of EU) is still tongue-tied.

This is ironic that the capital of EU is also unstable and divided between Flanders and Wallonia.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Isnt it laughable that the west propagate democracy and right to freedom yet here they use violence to prevent a vote injuring 800.

Double standards of the white people

That's still somewhat civilized comparative to other regions. Just take a look at India/Pak/Bangladesh/China etc. Though in my opinion Catalonia was better off with Spain...however depending on how things go in the future "statehood" may not matter much in the framework of EU.

 

[maximuswarrior]

That's still somewhat civilized comparative to other regions. Just take a look at India/Pak/Bangladesh/China etc.

Don’t worry. What seems civilized to you today can turn very ugly the next day. This was merely the first step. You will see how civilized things are when we enter the actual independence phase. Don’t think it won’t happen.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Don’t worry. What seems civilized to you today can turn very ugly the very next day.

It could indeed...I never said that it couldn't. I was just pointing out that comparative to demands of separation elsewhere this was indeed "civilized" in the sense that they were allowed to hold a referendum. Just look at how other countries forcefully silence the demands of separation.

 

[maximuswarrior]

It could indeed...I never said that it couldn't. I was just pointing out that comparative to demands of separation elsewhere this was indeed "civilized" in the sense that they were allowed to hold a referendum. Just look at how other countries forcefully silence the demands of separation.

You are wrong. They weren’t allowed to hold the referendum. The Spanish government has already termed the entire referendum illegal. Also, the use of force to halt the voting speaks for itself. You need to separate facts from fiction.

 

[BrahminZada]

Cata will becore Loniya again !

Long live Catalonia
Long live Al-Andalusia

 

[SOHEIL]

Yes,Catalunya is situated in one of the most dangerous regions of the world,poor Catalans,i hope one day,they will be free.
Many Catalans will try to cross the dangerous Mediterranean Sea in rubber dinghy's to Africa and the East-ME to seek refuge there,some will drown and others will hopefully make it but since the African Union countries closed the ''doors'' to refugees from Europe,many will be sent back.
A very sad situation.