The Catalan
leader has issued a defiant response to Madrid’s decision to take direct
control of Catalonia, calling for “democratic opposition” to the takeover.
In a brief
video message issued on Saturday afternoon, Carles Puigdemont vowed to continue
working to build “a free country”.
“We must do
so resisting repression and threats, without ever abandoning, at any time,
civic and peaceful conduct,” he said, adding that his government did not have
or want “the argument of force”.
Madrid
reacted to the Catalan parliament’s unilateral declaration of independence on
Friday by firing the regional government and dismissing the head of the local
police force.
Puigdemont
and his cabinet were formally removed from their posts, and their powers and
responsibilities taken over by central government in notices posted to the
official state bulletin on Saturday morning.
Catalan
declaration greeted with tears of joy – and trepidation
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The orders
provided an outline for a takeover approved by the Spanish senate on Friday,
but Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s prime minister, now faces the challenge of
implementing them.
Puigdemont
responded to Madrid’s move with a choreographed show of normality, going out
for drinks and lunch at a restaurant in his hometown of Girona, as the
pre-recorded statement played out on national TV. He briefly stepped out to
take a photo with supporters, to applause from other diners.
Many of the
thousands of independence supporters who were weeping and celebrating in the
streets of Barcelona and other towns on Friday had already pledged peaceful
resistance to Madrid’s orders.
Activists
had offered to form human chains around buildings to protect officials, and
some of the region’s 200,000 civil servants have already said they will not
accept orders from Madrid.
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One Catalan
union has called a 10-day strike in support of the new republic starting on
Monday, although larger trade bodies have not so far joined.
Josep LluÃs
Trapero, head of the regional Mossos d’Esquadra police, who was praised for his
response to the August terrorist attacks, has been the only senior official to
say he will comply with Madrid, accepting a demotion to commissar.
Beyond the
sweeping assumption of powers, Madrid took wider aim at the project of Catalan
statehood pursued by the regional government.
Among other
orders, it dismantled informal embassies set up by Catalonia in countries from
Denmark to Morocco, and dismissed a tribunal set up to investigate rights
abuses during the 1 October referendum, when Spanish police were widely
criticised for their use of force.
Rajoy has
also dissolved the regional parliament and called elections for 21 December,
with a 15-day campaign period laid out in the new orders.
Spain’s
deputy prime minister, whose official title is vice-president of the
government, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaria – who has managed the government’s response
to the Catalan crisis – will run Catalonia on a day-to-day basis until then.
It is not
clear whether legislators who supported the independence declaration will be
able to run for office again, but polls suggest a new election would return a
similar parliament to the one that proclaimed independence.
A slim
majority of seats would be held by pro-independence parties, but they would
still receive less than half of the popular vote, Associated Press reported.
The region
has been officially self-governing since its statute of autonomy was signed in
1979, as Spain returned to democracy following the death of dictator Gen
Francisco Franco.
However, as
pro-independence Catalans celebrated, those who back staying inside Spain –
often described as a “silent majority” – hoped the turmoil might also have
spurred opposition to the independence project.
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On Sunday
they will hold a long-planned march in support of remaining part of Spain, and
turnout is likely to be watched closely, as a barometer of anti-separatist
sentiment. Government polls in the run-up to the October referendum suggest
their ranks swelled slightly in recent months.
“We think
there will be a lot of people who will want to show that they don’t agree with
that kind of unilateral, illegal declaration. It has only served to create
division. People want to express themselves, and our slogan is ‘We’re all
Catalonia’,” said Alex Ramos, vice-president of pro-unity group Societat Civil
Catalana.
He accused
local police of underestimating turnout at their last pro-unity march, claiming
that up to a million people may have taken to the streets rather than the
official 350,000. Numbers were swelled by some people from other parts of
Spain, but Ramos said nine out of 10 of them were from the region.
“A lot of
the people who turned out were Catalans who’d never been on a demonstration
before, people who’d been silent for a long time. But that day, they wanted to
express themselves and say that they were both Catalan and Spanish.”
Their
concerns are political and economic, but also emotional. Catalonia has long
been one of Spain’s most prosperous regions, but the turmoil of the last months
has taken a toll. Hundreds of companies have moved their headquarters out of
Catalonia or are making plans to do so.
The
fledgling Catalan republic has received little support from overseas so far.
Governments from Berlin to Washington have rallied behind Madrid, while warning
against escalation or violence, many driven in part by concerns about
secessionist movements at home.
“I hope the
Spanish government favours force of argument, not argument of force,” said the
European council president, Donald Tusk.
One of the
few voices offering some backing to Puigdemont and the parliament came from
Scotland, whose external affairs minister condemned Madrid.
“We
understand and respect the position of the Catalan government. While Spain has
the right to oppose independence, the people of Catalonia must have the ability
to determine their own future,” said Fiona Hyslop. “The imposition of direct
rule cannot be the solution and should be of concern to democrats everywhere
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