Events have unfolded rapidly in Spain’s northeast region of Catalonia since the regional Parlament approved last Wednesday a referendum on independence from Spain in violation of the Spanish constitution.
As Catalan secessionist parties and supporters prepared for what promised to be their largest demonstration in favor of a referendum on independence on Monday, the annual celebration of Catalonia’s Diada or national day, here’s a roundup of Catalan independence-related news events as they unfolded at the weekend:
Tribunal Constitucional finds Catalonia’s Referendum Law unconstitutional, prohibits 1st October vote
• Unanimous 12-0 Court ruling puts law in suspense for up to five months, prohibits organization of referendum
• 948 Catalan mayors, 62 regional officials, Mossos police warned they must actively impede referendum vote
• Judges refrain from suspending Parlament President Carme Forcadell, leaving action to lower courts
► Read More in Spanish at El Periódico, La Vanguardia and El País …
► Read More in English at the BBC, Reuters and The New York Times …
Municipalities agreeing to provide polling stations comprise just 41% of voting population
• Barcelona, provincia capitals of Tarragona, Lleida and 5 other cities comprising 34% of voter rolls refuse to comply
• Other municipalities representing 26% of voting population have not responded to Generalitat
• Puigdemont calls for pro-independence crowds to gather in front of town halls to pressure non-compliant mayors
► Read More in Spanish at El Mundo, El País, El Periódico and La Vanguardia …
Mossos, public employee unions instruct members to respect Spanish court orders, disobey ‘illegal’ referendum orders
• Head of Mossos d’Esquadra union says members of regional police force are sworn to obey Spanish laws, court orders
• CSIF public employees union instructs members on how to avoid complying with ‘illegal orders’ from superiors
• UGT, CCOO leadership oppose referendum, some local Catalan sections to support 1st October vote
► Read More in Spanish at La Vanguardia, El País, El Mundo and Economia Digital …
Guardia Civil search printing plants, pro-independence print media for voter rolls, ballots
• Director of weekly newspaper in Tarragona charged in connection with printing of ballot materials
• National police force said to suspect two other printing opertions in Girona, Barcelona
• Reports that Guardia searching for ballot boxes believed to be hidden by far-left CUP party
► Read More in Spanish at 20minutos, El Mundo and ABC and El Periódico …
