Of the Spanish government’s three ships, contracted to dock in Catalonian ports to act as accommodation for thousands of Guardia Civil, one has been refused entry and the other two face a port workers’ boycott as the October 1st independence referendum date approaches.
The Mariano Rajoy plan is to flood Catlonia with military police to prevent the independence referendum form taking place. This follows raids on regional government offices and the arrest of at least 14 government officials involves in ‘illegal’ referendum preparations.
More than 4,000 Guardia Civil have been dispatched to the Spanish region as Madrid does not trust the local police force, Mossos d’ Esquadra, to do its bidding in preventing a vote for independence from central control.
Around 4,500 Guardia Civil troops currently are housed on four cruise ships, two in Barcelona, one in Tarragona and one in Palamos but local dockers in Barcelona refused to provide any services, in solidarity.
Colleagues in Tarragona quickly followed suit and the Catalan government then denied permission to dock in the regionally controlled port of Palamos.
One of the boats is painted with huge cartoon characters including Wile E Coyote, Tweety-Pie and Daffy Duck. (see picture below)
On Friday, more than 40,000 people gathered in Barcelona to protest over the arrests and the intervention of the Spanish government in the planned Catalan independence vote.
In a television address, Catalan’s President Carles Puigdemont said, “The Spanish state has by all rights intervened in Catalonia’s governmen and has established emergency rule.
“We condemn and reject the anti-democratic and totalitarian actions of the Spanish state.”
A spokesman for the Catalan National Assembly said, “They made a big mistake; we wanted to vote and they declared war.”
Catalans are split on the issue of independence but support for a referendum vote is high and no one is happy that the Spanish police arrested legitimate Catalan leaders.
International coverage is unprecedented with top titles covering events and coming down on the side of the Catalonians and their desire at least to be allowed to vote on the matter of independence from Spain.
The Times, Le Monde, the Washington Post, the New York Times all support a referendum with the The Times leader wasting no time before accusing Mariano Rajoy of repression, referring to Spain’s “constitutional crisis” with risk of a rupture being the greatest since “the end of the Franco dictatorship” and accused Rajoy of fuelling the crisis.
The British press will not hesitate to support an independence vote for Catalonia as this supports the continued British rule of Gibraltar, made possible by London having allowed a referendum in 2002 at which 99% of the population voted for continued British governance - a thorn in the side of Madrid.
Carles Puigdemont, the 130th president of Catalonia, writes in the Washington Post:
“After three centuries under Spanish rule, on Oct. 1, citizens of Catalonia will finally have the chance to exercise their right to self-determination. More than 5 million eligible voters will have the right to decide on a simple question: “Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?”
“The way to this historic referendum was paved by a majority decision of the Catalonian parliament. In our last regional election in September 2015, pro-independence parties won 47.8 percent of the vote, which gave them an absolute majority of seats. Unionist parties won 39.1 percent of the votes, a clear defeat, while the rest of the votes went to parties that defend the right to self-determination but are not necessarily in favor of independence. So there can be no denying the democratic legitimacy of our current Catalonian government. For this reason, after making several unsuccessful efforts to agree on the terms of the referendum with Spanish President Mariano Rajoy, I initiated the referendum.
“In stark contrast to the governments of Canada or Britain, Madrid has refused to accept this democratic challenge, and has opted instead for the pat of authoritarian repression. In most parts of the developed world, police protect ballot boxes, polling stations, and voters. In Catalonia today, the situation is the opposite. Spanish security forces are confiscating ballots and ballot boxes, stripping campaign posters from the walls, and intimidating citizens. They have arrested officials of the Catalan government, tapped telephones, raided private residences, and banned political rallies.
“It seems incredible that this could happen in Spain in the 21st century. One French journalist recently noted that the Spanish government is acting more like Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuelan dictatorship than a healthy European democracy. And consider the fact that Catalonia, Spain, and other European countries are currently on maximum alert against jihadi terrorism. Instead of working to prevent possible attacks, Spain’s police forces are working to prevent the existence of democracy. This is profoundly irresponsible.
“The Spanish government has also gravely violated the freedom of expression and of information. Not only has it prohibited both public and private media from broadcasting advertisements about the referendum, it has also moved to block Catalan government websites that inform the public about the vote. Madrid has even blocked proxy servers, a procedure employed by only the most totalitarian regimes. The Spanish government not only wants to keep Catalans from voting, but also to prevent them from being informed.
“This de facto state of siege to which the Spanish State has submitted Catalonia nullifies the autonomy conceded in 1979. A few days ago the central government seized control over Catalonia’s finances, thus imperiling the Catalan economy, which is the motor of the Spanish economy. Catalonia is responsible for almost 20% of Spanish GDP, and our exports comprise some 25 percent of all Spanish exports. Spain is thus gravely damaging its own economy as well as putting Catalonia’s at risk, and is even threatening to cut some of the social services to which Catalonia’s people are entitled. Madrid is thus punishing each and every citizen of Catalonia indiscriminately, whether or not they actually want independence.
“The Spanish government has to understand that its behavior is unacceptable from the point of view of democracy and civil rights. Four decades after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, we still find that authoritarian instincts rule at the heart of the Madrid government. “Respect for minorities is a fundamental human right, and the right of self-determination is an irrevocable right of all nations.
“Our commitment to the right of self-determination and to the will of the Catalan people to decide its own future remains unshaken. The repression of the Spanish government will not be able to change that. On Oct. 1, citizens of Catalonia will exercise their right to decide whether they want to become a new independent republic, just like other peoples of the world have done before them. This is the moment of the people of Catalonia, but we are not alone in this fight. We call on democrats around the world to give support to this long struggle between freedom and authoritarianism.”
This weekend sees the annual Merce festival at 24 venues around Barcelona with free concerts, street theatre, human castles and fireworks. This is expected to bring 600,000 people into the streets to be faced with an unprecedented police presence in the regional capital.
Monday is a bank holiday in Barcelona so the city’s inhabitants have a long weekend during which trouble widely is expected to explode. Some have expressed concern that the central government will take advantage of the packed crowds at the Merce festival to provoke an altercation so that the Guardia Civil can move in.
One British expatriate resident, Josephine Watson, quoted in the Independent, worried about the risk of confrontation,
“Sending vans of police from all over the country could be taken as provocation,” said Watson, explaining that the manifestations she so far had attended have been peaceful and that she has seen people of all ages and from all sectors of society,
“There were people who were old enough to have protested Franco, and children who were attending their first protest.”
This weekend, any protest may be considered, by an increasingly incoherent Rajoy government, as an act of sedition.
“The central government’s response is out of proportion. It’s like we’ve gone back in time 40 years,” Watson said.
