Spanish court suspends Catalan parliament in wake of independence vote

Catalonia referendum: Spanish court suspends Catalan parliament in wake of independence vote
Catalan President earlier said his government planned to declare independence ‘in a matter of days’
Harry Cockburn |
Thursday 5 October 2017 17:26 BST|

The Spanish government has suspended the Catalan parliamentary session planned for Monday in which a declaration of independence from Spain was expected to be made.

The country’s constitutional court said such a declaration would be “a breach of the constitution”.
Tensions between the central government and the region have mounted following last weekend’s referendum on secession, which saw violent clashes between Catalan citizens and the
national police.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont had earlier said his government planned to declare independence in the wake of the referendum, “in a matter of days”.

But the opposition socialist party in the regional parliament, which opposes secession, had called for Monday’s session to be blocked – a challenge which was upheld by Spain’s constitutional court.

Separatist parties only have a slim majority of the seats in the Catalan parliament.
Last Sunday’s referendum recorded a turnout of 2.2 million people – 42 per cent of the electorate – many of whom faced riot police at polling stations. In addition, police removed some
ballot boxes in an attempt to enforce a Spanish court order to prevent the vote.

The organisers said 90 per cent voted for independence, but have not published the final results.
Why the left can’t bring themselves to back Catalan independen Lawyers representing the regional parliament had also warned that the session would technically be illegal because it planned to discuss the results of a referendum that had been previously suspended by the constitutional court.

Before the vote, Madrid said the referendum was illegal, and as the results were announced Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said there had “been no referendum”.

He subsequently said the regional Catalan government must abandon plans to declare independence, to avoid “greater evils”.

Mr Rajoy said the solution for the region “is the prompt return to legality and the affirmation, as early as possible, that there will be no unilateral declaration of independence, because
that way greater evils will be avoided,” he told Spain's EFE news agency.

 

கற்றலோனியா சிதறும் அகண்ட ஐரோப்பிய ஏகாதிபத்தியக் கனவு!

ENB Poster Cataloniya சுயநிர்ணய உரிமை

Catalonia referendum a ‘coup against Europe’, says vice president of EU Parliament

Ramón Luis Valcárcel, vice president of the EU Parliament

Catalonia referendum a ‘coup against Europe’, says vice president of EU Parliament
Jen Mills for Metro.co.uk

One of the most senior EU officials has described the Catalan referendum as ‘a coup against Europe’. After the vote on October 1, Ramón Luis Valcárcel, vice president of the EU Parliament, said: ‘Today we have witnessed a nationalistic propaganda act, undemocratic; a coup attempt against Spanish democracy, and so a coup against Europe.’

Catalan officials said 90 percent of the 2.26 million voters had chosen to leave Spain, and will hold meetings to potentially move for secession as early as this week. But Mr Valcárcel, a Spanish politician and member of the ruling People’s Party, condemned the referendum saying Catalans had voted overwhelmingly in the past to approve Spain’s constitution which says the country cannot be divided. Writing an opinion piece for The Globe and Mail, he said: ‘We are witnessing the first coup against democracy in the history of the European Union.

‘A regional government is angling, in a unilateral, illegal and democratically deplorable manner, to secede from a member state. And in so doing, it is violating the fundamental rights of millions of citizens. ‘This situation is without precedent in the history of the [European] Union.’ Mr Valcárcel said Spain is an integral part of the EU, ‘which respects and safeguards the national identities and constitutional structure of its member states. ‘An attack on the constitution of one member state is therefore also an attack on the Union as a whole.’

After the vote on October 1, most senior EU officials Ramón Luis Valcárcel, vice president of the EU Parliament, said:

‘Today we have witnessed a nationalistic propaganda act, undemocratic; a coup attempt against Spanish democracy, and so a coup against Europe.’

He said the Scottish independence referendum was not the same situation, as the UK has no written constitution and the government granted consent for it to take place. More than 800 people were injured on Sunday as riot police attacked peaceful protesters and unarmed civilians gathered to cast their ballots.

After the polls closed, Catalan president Carles Puigdemont said Catalonia had ‘won the right to become an independent state,’ adding that he would keep his pledge to declare independence unilaterally from Spain. ‘Today the Spanish state wrote another shameful page in its history with Catalonia,’ Puigdemont added, saying he would appeal to the European Union to look into alleged human rights violations during the vote.

No one knows precisely what will happen if Catalan officials actually follow through on their pledge to use the vote – chaotic as it was – as a basis for declaring the north eastern region independent. Such a provocative move would threaten Spain with the possible loss of one of its most prosperous regions, including the popular coastal city of Barcelona, the regional capital. Clashes broke out less than an hour after polls opened, and hundreds of police armed with truncheons and rubber bullets were sent in from other regions to confiscate ballots and stop the voting.

Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said the violence, while ‘unfortunate’ and ‘unpleasant’ was ‘proportionate’. ‘If people insist in disregarding the law and doing something that has been consistently declared illegal and unconstitutional, law enforcement officers need to uphold the law,’

Police were acting on a judge’s orders to stop the referendum, which the Spanish government had declared illegal and unconstitutional – and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said going forward with the vote only served to sow divisions. In a televised address after the majority of polls closed Sunday, he thanked the Spanish police, saying they had acted with ‘firmness and serenity’ – comments sure to anger Catalans.

Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said the violence, while ‘unfortunate’ and ‘unpleasant’ was ‘proportionate’. ‘If people insist in disregarding the law and doing something that has been consistently declared illegal and unconstitutional, law enforcement officers need to uphold the law,’

Dastis told The Associated Press.

Source: metro.co.uk Monday 2 Oct 2017

Catalans stage protests, general strike against crackdown on referendum vote

World News
October 3, 2017
Catalans stage protests, general strike against crackdown on vote
Sam Edwards

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Catalonia and road traffic, public transport and business were disrupted on Tuesday in protest against Sunday’s violent crackdown by Spanish police on an outlawed independence referendum.

Metro stations shut down in Barcelona, pickets blocked dozens of roads and state workers walked out in response to a call for a general strike by pro-independence groups and trade unions.

FC Barcelona, the city’s football club, joined the strike, saying it would close for the day and none of its teams would train. Carmaker SEAT was forced to shut a production line.

Catalonia, Spain’s richest region, has its own language and culture and a political movement for secession that has strengthened in recent years.

Pro-independence parties who control the regional government staged Sunday’s referendum in defiance of Spanish courts that had ruled it illegal. Some 900 people were injured on polling day when police fired rubber bullets and charged at crowds with truncheons to disrupt the vote.

Those who participated voted overwhelmingly for independence, a result that was expected since residents who favor remaining part of Spain mainly boycotted the vote.

Opinion polls conducted before the vote suggested only a minority of around 40 percent of residents in the region back independence. But a majority want a referendum to be held, and protesters said the violent police crackdown against the ballot had energized the secessionist camp.

“What happened on Oct. 1 has fired up independence feeling that will never die,” said 18-year-old student Monica Ventinc, who attended a protest on Tuesday.

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has said the referendum is valid and its result must be implemented. Spain’s Constitutional Court prohibited the ballot, siding with Madrid which argued that it contravened the country’s 1978 constitution which bars breaking up the country.

The referendum has plunged Spain into its worst constitutional crisis in decades, and is a political test for Rajoy, a conservative who has taken a hardline stance on the issue. Outside of Catalonia, Spaniards mostly hold strong views against its independence drive.

On financial markets, Spain’s 10-year borrowing costs hit their highest level in nearly three months as tensions between Madrid and Catalonia spilled on to the streets.

Several demonstrations unfolded across Catalonia on Tuesday. To the north of Barcelona, a line of tractors moved down a road blocked to traffic, accompanied by protesters chanting “Independence!” and “The streets will always be ours!”

Crowds gathered outside the local headquarters of Spain’s ruling People’s Party (PP) and the Spanish national police headquarters in Barcelona, whistling and waving the red-and-yellow regional flag.
Groups of firemen marched and played bagpipes in Barcelona as people cheered them. Outside the PP offices, people threw voting papers into the air and chanted ‘We voted’.

People entwined flowers into the gates of Ramon Llull school, where Spanish police clashed with those wanting to vote in the banned referendum on Sunday.

Barcelona tourist attractions such as museums and architect Antoni Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia church, were shut.

But some businesses operated normally and it was difficult to estimate what proportion of workers heeded the strike call.

“In no way can we accept that they come here with this kind of repression,” taxi driver Alejandro Torralbo, standing outside the PP headquarters, said of Sunday’s police action.

Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said Puigdemont and his regional government had lost respect for the democratic process and were showing a flagrant disregard for the law.

“I’ve seen how President Puigdemont has flooded the streets with his followers to stop people obeying the law and to make them disrespect justice,” she said. “We are here to defend the rights and liberties of all Spaniards that have been trampled upon by the regional government.”

Writing by Sonya Dowsett and Adrian Croft; editing by Peter Graff
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Selected Articles- Catalonias Referendum

Selected Articles: Catalonia’s Referendum

https://www.globalresearch.ca/selected-articles-catalonias-referendum/5611676

Catalan Referendum Results

Know Catalonia

 

Catalonia History

https://youtu.be/AIvclpJb05g

 

Catolina US

https://youtu.be/VUFWY5FUZxk

 

Police Brutality

https://youtu.be/jH53_XjO_6E

https://youtu.be/3GnIutPfCyY

https://youtu.be/FiEDIpcoPzY

https://youtu.be/Kp2Mh9wgsaY

SAS hunt Osama Bin Laden's son in 'kill or capture' mission

Bin Laden Son Hamza

SAS hunt Osama Bin Laden's son in 'kill or capture' mission before he can launch revenge terror attacks against the West




Bin Laden son Hamza
© Provided by Trinity Mirror Shared Services Limited Credits: CBS

Osama bin Laden ’s son is being hunted in a “kill or capture” mission by UK special forces. Hamza bin Laden, 28, has followed in his evil dad’s footsteps to head terror group al-Qaeda.

Now US and British intelligence officers are believed to have listed him as being among their most wanted targets.

Hamza disappeared from his father’s remote safe house in Pakistan weeks before Osama was shot dead by US Navy Seals in 2011.



© Provided by Trinity Mirror Shared Services Limited

He is now said to want revenge for the killing and is believed to be plotting an attack on the West .
Hamza re-emerged from hiding two years ago and has since issued twisted video messages praising “lone wolf” attacks in London, while calling on militants across the globe to take action.
Hamza re-emerged from hiding two years ago and has since issued twisted video messages praising “lone wolf” attacks in London, while calling on militants across the globe to take action.

He is understood to want to re-build is father’s terror organisation and is said to have been spotted in Syria in May.



Bin Laden Son Hamza

© Provided by Trinity Mirror Shared Services Limited

A Joint Coalition Special Operations Unit, including 40 SAS soldiers, have reportedly been flown in to Syria on a covert mission to find Hamza and his gang.

He is now considered in the top 10 “high-value” targets being hunted by Coalition forces deployed on Operation Shader.

ENB POSTER : Catalonia வெகுஜன வாக்கெடுப்பு வெல்க!