Spain Tense as Catalonia Moves Toward Declaring Secession Answering king’s stern speech, region’s leader says many Catalans ‘expected another tone from you’ By Jeannette Neumann and Marina Force
https://www.wsj.com/articles/spain-tense-as-catalonian-separatist-leaders-called-to-testify-in-sedition-investigation-1507115753
BARCELONA—Catalonia set a course toward declaring its secession from Spain as soon as Monday after separatist parties requested the regional parliament convene that day to review the results of this week’s independence vote, injecting further tension in the standoff with the Spanish government.
The request came on Wednesday as Catalan President Carles Puigdemont made a televised address in which he took issue with a speech Spain’s king made the previous evening admonishing Catalonia’s leaders for “inadmissible disloyalty.” Addressing the monarch, Mr. Puigdemont said his speech had “disappointed many in Catalonia, who appreciate you…[and] expected another tone from you, a plea for dialogue and harmony.”
Two separatist parties that control Catalonia’s parliament petitioned Mr. Puigdemont to discuss the official results of Sunday’s referendum on independence, advancing the wealthy Spanish region toward declaring a split with Spain. Mr. Puigdemont, who has been at the head of Catalonia’s secession push and is a member of one of the parties, said this week Catalan leaders “will act over the weekend or early next week.”
Some lawmakers have said they would follow a controversial law they passed last month that requires them to declare independence within 48 hours of receiving the official results. Monday’s session “is to declare the independence of Catalonia,” said Mireia Boya, a Catalan lawmaker from the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), which has taken a hard line on secession.
“We will declare independence 48 hours after all the official results are counted,” Mr. Puigdemont said in an interview with BBC broadcast Tuesday. But despite the pledges, the timetable for any declaration of independence remained unclear.
Sunday’s vote, boycotted by opponents of independence, was marred by clashes with police that left nearly 900 people injured, according to regional authorities.
Tensions since have since risen further. On Tuesday, King Felipe VI, Spain’s head of state, accused Catalan leaders of undermining the rule of law. “They have attempted to break the unity of Spain and national sovereignty,” he said in a rare televised address.
Some Spaniards welcomed the king’s tough stance toward the separatist leaders, whom they blame for organizing an illegitimate referendum that has created a fissure not only in Spain, but also in Catalonia between those who support a break and those who don’t. CONTINUE AT SITE
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