BARCELONA, Oct 3, 2018 (BSS/AFP) -Catalonia’s separatist executive was
Tuesday accused of playing a “dangerous” game after the regional leader
encouraged radical independence activists to carry out disruptive acts on the
anniversary of a banned referendum that culminated in clashes.
Hundreds of separatist protesters knocked down barriers at the regional
parliament in Barcelona on Monday evening, clashing with police in stark
contrast with the usually peaceful nature of Catalonia’s independence
movement.
Analysts said this reflected the movement’s divisions and lack of
direction, with some pushing for direct confrontation with Madrid and others
calling for moderation, while at the same time trying to keep the spirit of
last year’s secession bid alive.
Reacting to the clashes, Catalan government spokeswoman Elsa Artadi
acknowledged it was “the first time that we are faced with this situation
within the independence movement”.
She told Catalan television that a “minority” took part in the unrest.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez rapped regional leader Quim Torra,
asking him to “not endanger political normalisation by encouraging radicals
to lay siege to institutions which represent all Catalans”.
“Violence isn’t the way forward,” Sanchez, who is attempting to negotiate
with Catalan leaders and also depends on separatist lawmakers to prop up his
minority government, said in a tweet.
– ‘In the middle’ –
Under pressure from more hardline separatists, Torra warned Tuesday that
Catalan separatist parties would withdraw backing for Sanchez in the national
parliament unless Madrid agrees by November to allow Catalonia to hold a
binding self-determination referendum.
“Catalans’ patience is not infinite,” he said during a debate in the
Catalan parliament.
He also asked for “serious self-criticism” from the separatist camp.
“We must demand that the mobilisation which we need always be non-violent,
radically non-violent,” Torra said.
Later the a Spanish government spokesman said it “will not accept
ultimatums” while adding that it remained resolved to maintain a dialogue.
Monday’s clashes forced the leader in Catalonia of anti-secession party
Ciudadanos to leave the building under escort in unrest that topped a restive
day in the northeastern region that remains sharply divided on independence.
Radical activists called by a group naming itself the Committees for the
Defence of the Republic (CDRs), many of them hooded, cut roads and railway
lines, encouraged by Torra — a staunch independence supporter himself.
“The (independence) movement is divided between radicals and an executive
that isn’t sure where to go, and which is also divided,” said Oriol
Bartomeus, politics professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
“I think Torra shares the CDRs’ ideas but he knows perfectly well that the
independence movement will lose if it goes down that road.
“Torra is in the middle,” he said, describing the situation as “very
dangerous”.
– Violence condemned –
Catalonia’s banned independence referendum on October 1, 2017 was marred
by a violent crackdown by police ordered to stop peaceful voters from casting
their ballot, in footage that went around the world.
A year later, the tables appeared to have turned with images of radical
independence supporters cutting roads and railway lines, muscling their way
into a government building and clashing with police.
Miquel Iceta, head of the Socialist party in Catalonia, told Spanish radio
the unrest “highlighted that a regional president cannot encourage
mobilisation if he is then unable to guarantee security.”
He said it also showed “that the Catalan government’s discourse, as it is
far from reality, generates frustration and violence among its most radical
followers”.
Even former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who is in self-exile in
Belgium after last October’s secession bid, condemned the violence.
“If they are hooded they’re not from the 1-0,” he tweeted referring to the
referendum last year on October 1, which went ahead despite a court ban and
eventually led to a short-lived unilateral declaration of independence at the
end of the month.
That prompted then conservative prime minister Mariano Rajoy to sack the
regional government, dissolve the Catalan parliament and call snap local
elections.
“If they use violence they’re not from the 1-0. We did it with our faces
uncovered and in a peaceful way,” Puigdemont added.