Spanish loyalists on streets to defy Catalan breakaway

Spanish loyalists on streets to defy Catalan breakaway
Graham Keeley, Barcelona
October 9 2017, 12:01am,
The Times UK

Hundreds of thousands of people waving the flags of Catalonia and Spain turned out in Barcelona yesterday to show their opposition to the independence movement, calling themselves the Silent Majority

RAFAEL MARCHANTE/REUTERS

Hundreds of thousands of opponents of Catalan independence were on the streets of Barcelona yesterday in the largest ever demonstration driven by the desire to keep Spain together.

Protesters calling themselves the Silent Majority converged on the centre of the city waving Spanish and Catalan flags and shouting “Viva España, Visca Catalunya”
(Long Live Spain, Long Live Catalonia).

The march came two days before a showdown between Madrid and Carles Puigdemont, the Catalan leader who has threatened to declare secession from Spain tomorrow at a special meeting of the regional assembly.

As Spain’s worst political crisis for decades showed no sign of easing, Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, said that if separatists declared unilateral independence he could not rule out using article 155 of the constitution to impose direct rule and then call fresh regional elections.

Such a move, which has never been used since Spain returned to democracy in 1978, could trigger riots.

“I don’t rule out anything that is within the law . . . Ideally, we shouldn’t have to take drastic solutions but for that not to happen there would have to be changes,” Mr Rajoy said in an
interview with El País published yesterday.

In Barcelona, in a largely good humoured demonstration, people sang the Spanish national anthem and Y Viva España. Many held banners saying “Catalonia is Spain” and “We are proud Spaniards and Catalans”. Others shouted: “Puigdemont to jail!”

Societat Civil Catalana

Societat Civil Catalana, the group opposed to independence that organised the protest, called for a return to common sense. It claimed 950,000 people turned up but police said it was more like 350,000.

Ismael Caldera, 42, wearing the blue and red shirt of FC Barcelona, the football club that has supported Catalan independence, held a Spanish flag with the Catalan yellow and red stripes on the reverse.

“I came to show that not all Catalans are for independence. We are the silent majority who never demonstrate, but now we are frightened about what is happening to our country. It is
being taken over by a small minority,” he said.

Fascist salutes were seen at a protest rally in Madrid

PABLO BLAZQUEZ DOMINGUEZ/GETTY IMAGES

The wealthy northeastern region of 7.5 million people, which has its own language and accounts for 19 per cent of Spain’s GDP, held an independence referendum on October 1 in defiance of a ban by Spain’s highest court.

More than 90 per cent of the 2.3 million people who voted backed secession, according to Catalan officials. But the turnout was only 43 per cent of the region’s 5.3 million eligible voters. Many of those on the streets of central Barcelona yesterday claimed that the disputed referendum did not represent the views of most Catalans.

Asunción Bernardo, 48, an administrator, travelled 60 miles from Tarragona in the south of Catalonia to take part. He said: “You see how many people really oppose independence.

The independence people are better mobilised than us and we never raise our voices because we are frightened of reprisals at work or in the street. But now it is vitally important to show Catalonia is part of Spain. I am for dialogue to sort this out. Perhaps they could give the Catalans control over taxes, because they always complain that Madrid takes all the money.”

The Nobel literature prize laureate Mario Vargas Llosa and Josep Borrell, a former president of the European parliament, addressed the rally.

“Besides Catalans, there are thousands of men and women from all corners of Spain who have come to tell their Catalan companions that they are not alone,” said the writer, who took Spanish citizenship in addition to that of his native Peru in 1993. “We want Barcelona to once again be the capital of Spanish culture.”

Mr Borrell said: “Catalonia is not a state like Kosovo where rights were systematically violated.”
Tens of thousands of people also gathered in 50 cities across Spain on Saturday, some defending national unity and others dressed in white and calling for talks. Some protesters made fascist salutes at a rally in Madrid. Most demonstrators in Barcelona carried Spanish and Catalan flags.

There was a sharp rise in support for independence in Catalonia after an economic recession. Recent polls showed at least 40 per cent of Catalans supported independence, with 49 per cent against, but more than 70 per cent were in favour of a referendum agreed with Madrid, like the 2014 Scottish vote.

Concern is growing in European Union capitals about the impact of the crisis on the Spanish economy. Some European officials are also worried that any softening in the Spanish
government’s stance towards Catalan independence could fuel secessionist feelings among other groups in Europe.
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