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Catalonia referendum: region holds emergency meeting after tumultuous poll Catalan leader calls for mediation with Spain over independence
(about 2 hours later)
The Catalan regional government is holding an emergency meeting to discuss the next steps towards declaring independence from Spain, a day after millions of Catalans voted in a tumultuous poll that left more than 800 people injured. The Catalan president has called for international help in tackling its independence dispute with Spain, saying Europe cannot continue to ignore the issue after almost 900 people were injured during the police crackdown on the referendum.
Preliminary results from Sunday’s vote showed that 90% of people cast their ballots in favour of independence, according to the Catalan government. “The European commission must encourage international mediation,” Carles Puigdemont said on Monday. “It cannot look the other way any longer.”
At least 844 people and 33 police were reported to have been hurt on Sunday after riot police stormed polling stations in a last-minute effort to stop the vote. At least 844 people and 33 officers were reported to have been hurt on Sunday after riot police stormed polling stations, dragging out voters and firing rubber bullets into crowds.
A spokesman said 2.26 million Catalans – 43% of the region’s 5.3 million eligible voters – had taken part in the referendum, which was staged in defiance of the Spanish government, the country’s constitutional court and the Catalan high court. The Catalan government had not set a threshold for minimum turnout in the election, arguing the vote would be binding regardless of the level of participation. The European commission has so far declined to intervene in what it has described as an internal Spanish matter and has urged both sides to “move very swiftly from confrontation to dialogue”.
The regional president, Carles Puigdemont, has vowed to declare unilateral independence from Spain within 48 hours of a victory for the yes campaign. Speaking on Sunday night, Puidgemont said it had been a day of hope and suffering that had shown Catalonia had earned the right to independence. In a statement released earlier on Monday, it said: “Violence can never be an instrument in politics. We trust the leadership of prime minister Mariano Rajoy to manage this difficult process in full respect of the Spanish constitution and of the fundamental rights of citizens enshrined therein.”
He said: “My government, in the next few days, will send the results of [the] 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 police operation was also criticised by the UN high commissioner for human rights, who said he had been “very disturbed” by the violence in Catalonia.
The European Commission urged all sides in the crisis to “move very swiftly from confrontation to dialogue” on Monday and said violence should not be part of politics, without attributing blame to anyone. “With hundreds of people reported injured, I urge the Spanish authorities to ensure thorough, independent and impartial investigations into all acts of violence,” Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said on Monday. “Police responses must at all times be proportionate and necessary.”
“Violence can never be an instrument in politics,” the statement said. “We trust the leadership of prime minister Mariano Rajoy to manage this difficult process in full respect of the Spanish constitution and of the fundamental rights of citizens enshrined therein.” Hussein asked Spain to immediately accept requests for UN human rights monitors to visit the country.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, is due to speak to Rajoy this afternoon by phone, the commission’s chief spokesman added. Much of Catalonia was brought to a standstill for ten minutes at midday on Monday in protest at the police violence.
The commission also reiterated that it regards the question of Catalan independence as “an internal matter” and that Sunday’s vote had been illegal. “If a referendum were to be organised in line with the Spanish constitution it would mean that the territory leaving would find itself outside of the European Union.” Squares were occupied and roads blocked as crowds chanted “Independence!”. The Barcelona metro stopped briefly and the Plaça Sant Jaume, the seat of both the Barcelona city council and the Catalan government, was packed with protesters.
The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said he had been “disturbed by the violence in Catalonia” on Sunday, and called on Spain to accept requests by UN human rights experts to visit the region. Jordi Cuixart, the leader of the pro-independence group Òmnium Cultural, told the crowd that the general strike called for Tuesday “is the best response the Catalan people can make to the attacks on us yesterday and in recent weeks”.
“With hundreds of people reported injured, I urge the Spanish authorities to ensure thorough, independent and impartial investigations into all acts of violence,” he said in a statement. “Police responses must at all times be proportionate and necessary.” Puigdemont urged the Spanish government to recall the national police and Guardia Civil officers who had been tasked with preventing the referendum. He also announced that his government would create a commission to examine the human rights violations committed on Friday.
The Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal said on Monday he felt like crying following the vote. Nadal, a national hero in Spain who spoke out before the referendum to condemn it, was visibly moved as he addressed a press conference in Beijing ahead of the start of the Chinese Open. However, he did not, as many had expected, say that he would declare Catalan independence imminently, as previously promised. On Sunday night, Puigdemont had said the referendum results would be put before the regional parliament “where the sovereignty of our people lies, so that it can act in accordance with the law of the referendum”.
“I want to cry when I see a country where we have known how to co-exist and be a good example to the rest of the world get to a situation like this,” he said. “ I have spent many parts of my life in Catalonia, important moments, and to see society so radicalised surprises and disheartens me.” In a little over a decade, Carles Puigdemont has gone from obscurity to becoming the Spanish government’s bête noire and the pubic face of the Catalan independence movement.
A staunch and long-standing independence campaigner who has been the regional president of Catalonia since January 2016, Puigdemont was born to a family of bakers in the Catalan province of Girona in 1962.
He studied Catalan philology at university before becoming a journalist on the Girona-based daily El Punt and helping to launch Catalonia Today, an English-language paper.
He was elected in 2006 to the Catalan parliament as an MP for the Convergence and Union party representing the Girona region and five years later became the mayor of Girona.
Puigdemont found himself thrust into the Catalan presidency in January 2016 after his predecessor, Artur Mas, stepped aside to facilitate the formation of a pro-independence coalition government.
A spokesman for the Catalan government said 2.26 million Catalans – 43% of the region’s 5.3 million eligible voters – had taken part in the referendum, which was staged in defiance of the Spanish government, the country’s constitutional court and the Catalan high court. The Catalan government had not set a minimum threshold for turnout in the election, arguing the vote would be binding regardless of the level of participation.
The Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal said on Monday he felt like crying after the vote. Nadal, a national hero who condemned the referendum before it was held, told a press conference in Beijing before the start of the Chinese Open: “I want to cry when I see a country where we have known how to co-exist and be a good example to the rest of the world get to a situation like this.
“I have spent many parts of my life in Catalonia, important moments, and to see society so radicalised surprises and disheartens me.”
In a symbolic referendum held in Catalonia three years ago, 80% of voters backed independence, with 2.3 million of the region’s 5.4 million eligible voters taking part.In a symbolic referendum held in Catalonia three years ago, 80% of voters backed independence, with 2.3 million of the region’s 5.4 million eligible voters taking part.
Although millions of Catalans managed to cast their ballots on Sunday, others were forcibly stopped from voting as schools housing ballot boxes were raided by police acting on the orders of the Catalan high court. The Spanish government defended its response and said the police had been acting to defend the constitution and Spanish democracy.Although millions of Catalans managed to cast their ballots on Sunday, others were forcibly stopped from voting as schools housing ballot boxes were raided by police acting on the orders of the Catalan high court. The Spanish government defended its response and said the police had been acting to defend the constitution and Spanish democracy.
Rajoy thanked the police for acting with “firmness and serenity” as they attempted to halt the poll. “Today there has not been a self-determination referendum in Catalonia,” he said on Sunday night. “The rule of law remains in force with all its strength. We are the government of Spain and I am the head of the government of Spain and I accepted my responsibility. Rajoy thanked the police for acting with “firmness and serenity” as they attempted to halt the poll. “Today there has not been a self-determination referendum in Catalonia,” he said on Sunday night. “The rule of law remains in force with all its strength. We are the government of Spain and I am the head of the government of Spain and I accepted my responsibility.”
“We have done what was required of us. We have acted, as I have said from the beginning, according to the law and only according to the law. And we have shown that our democratic state has the resources to defend itself from an attack as serious as the one that was perpetrated with this illegal referendum. Today, democracy has prevailed because we have obeyed the constitution.”
Rajoy is due to meet the leaders of Spanish opposition parties later on Monday and to hold a parliamentary session to discuss events in Catalonia.Rajoy is due to meet the leaders of Spanish opposition parties later on Monday and to hold a parliamentary session to discuss events in Catalonia.
The actions of the Spanish authorities were immediately criticised by Catalan politicians. Ada Colau, the mayor of Barcelona, demanded an end to police operations and called for Rajoy’s resignation. Ada Colau, the mayor of Barcelona, demanded an end to police operations and called for Rajoy’s resignation.
Artur Mas, the former Catalan president whose government staged the symbolic referendum in 2014, also called for the “authoritarian” Rajoy to stand down, adding that Catalonia could not remain alongside “a state that uses batons and police brutality”.
Sunday’s violence came less than 24 hours after the Spanish government had appeared confident that enough had been done to thwart the vote.Sunday’s violence came less than 24 hours after the Spanish government had appeared confident that enough had been done to thwart the vote.
On Saturday, Enric Millo, the most senior Spanish government official in the region, said police had sealed off 1,300 of the region’s 2,315 polling stations. Guardia Civil officers acting on a judge’s orders also searched the headquarters of the Catalan technology and communications centre, disabling the software connecting polling stations and shutting down online voting applications. On Saturday, Enric Millo, the most senior Spanish government official in the region, said police had sealed off 1,300 of the region’s 2,315 polling stations. Guardia Civil officers acting on a judge’s orders searched the headquarters of the Catalan technology and communications centre, disabling the software connecting polling stations and shutting down online voting applications.
“These last-minute operations have allowed us to very definitively break up any possibility of the Catalan government delivering what it promised: a binding, effective referendum with legal guarantees,” he said.
Additional reporting by Jennifer Rankin in BrusselsAdditional reporting by Jennifer Rankin in Brussels