With the backing of the constitutional court, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has been stepping up efforts to prevent the referendum, scheduled for Oct. 1.
The
police raided the offices of the Catalan regional government early
Wednesday and arrested at least 14 people, including Josep Maria Jové,
secretary general of economic affairs. The arrests were not expected,
but hundreds of mayors and other officials in Catalonia had been warned
that they would be indicted if they helped organize a referendum in
violation of Spanish law.
Hundreds
of supporters of Catalan independence immediately took to the streets
of Barcelona to protest the arrests. Jordi Sanchez, the leader of one of
the region’s biggest separatist associations, used Twitter to urge Catalans to “resist peacefully,” but also to “come out and defend our institutions.”
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By
passing a law allowing for the Catalan referendum, Mr. Rajoy said, the
separatists had flouted Spanish law and “invented a new legal order.”
“Luckily,” he added, “the rule of law has functioned.”
Separatist
leaders, however, have accused Mr. Rajoy of plunging Catalonia into a
state of emergency rather than negotiating the terms of a referendum.
“The
issue that is at stake today isn’t the independence — or not — of
Catalonia,” Raül Romeva, Catalonia’s foreign affairs chief, told a group
of foreign correspondents in Madrid on Wednesday, “but democracy in
Spain and the European Union.”
Mr.
Romeva said that Catalonia would hold the referendum as planned, and
that Catalan lawmakers would act to honor the result within 48 hours —
meaning they would declare independence unilaterally if people voted for
it.
“There
is no alternative, absolutely no alternative,” he said. “There are only
two projects now on the table: a democratic project or repression.”
Madrid
seized control of Catalonia’s finances this week, seeking to ensure
that separatist politicians could not spend further public funds on the
referendum. Under the guidance of public prosecutors and Spanish judges,
the police conducted raids across Catalonia to confiscate ballots and
campaign materials from printing shops and delivery companies. Spain’s
judiciary has also taken measures to stop advertisements related to the
referendum in the news media.
Still,
the Catalan government says it can hold the vote, and recently
announced that it had stored about 6,000 ballot boxes in a secret
location.
“The
referendum will be held and is already organized,” Mr. Romeva said.
“Clearly the conditions in which it will be celebrated are not those
that we wished for.”
t,
“which will lead us all toward disaster.”
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