BARCELONA,
Spain — Spain’s leader fired the government of the country’s Catalonia
region on Friday, dissolved the regional parliament and ordered new
elections after defiant Catalan lawmakers declared independence,
escalating the biggest political crisis to hit Spain in decades.
The
measures announced by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in a televised
address capped a frenzied day of political maneuvering in Madrid,
Spain’s capital, and Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, where the long
drive for independence — illegal under Spain’s Constitution — has now
reached its fiercest level yet.
“We
believe it is urgent to listen to Catalan citizens, to all of them, so
that they can decide their future and nobody can act outside the law on
their behalf,” Mr. Rajoy said.
“We never wanted to reach this situation, never,” he said.
The
steps announced by Mr. Rajoy mean Spain will take direct control over
one of the country’s autonomous regions for the first time since Spain
embraced democracy in 1978.
How
quickly and forcefully that control will be imposed — and whether
separatist leaders will resist — were unclear as of Friday night. But
the coming days could determine whether the takeover is peaceful or
turns messy and violent.
At
the end of what he called “a sad day” for Spaniards, Mr. Rajoy assured
them that he had the means to end a secessionist threat that, he said,
was based on “lies, frauds and impositions.”
He
removed the Catalan leader, Carles Puigdemont, and his cabinet, as well
the director general of the autonomous police force. He also closed
down Catalonia’s representative offices overseas.
In ordering the Catalan Parliament to dissolve, Mr. Rajoy said new regional elections would be held Dec. 21.
Pending
the elections and formation of a new regional government, Mr. Rajoy
said, Catalonia’s administration would be run from Madrid.
Fueled
by a distinct language and culture as well as economic grievances,
aspirations for a separate state have percolated for generations in
Catalonia before boiling over this month.
The
events on Friday, coming in the chaotic aftermath of an Oct. 1
independence referendum in Catalonia, were greeted variously with anger,
concern and elation on both sides, with the prospect of even more
volatile confrontations in days ahead as the Spanish government moves to
put the steps in place.
Spain’s attorney general may now seek to detain Catalan leaders on grounds of rebellion.
Such
moves were likely to turn the boisterous separatist street celebrations
that greeted the independence declaration on Friday into mass protests,
with one Catalan labor union already calling on workers to stage a
general strike on Monday.
During
the debate in the regional parliament that preceded their vote for
independence, Catalan lawmakers traded accusations and in turn described
the occasion as “historic” and “happy,” or else “tragic” and a
violation of Spain’s Constitution, perhaps the only thing on which both
sides agreed.
Within an hour of the Catalan vote, the Spanish Senate in Madrid voted 214 to 47 to invoke Article 155 of Spain’s Constitution,
granting Mr. Rajoy extraordinary powers to take direct administrative
control over the region and remove secessionist politicians, including
Mr. Puigdemont, the Catalan leader.
In
a speech on Friday before the vote, Mr. Rajoy had said he had “no
alternative” because Mr. Puigdemont and his separatist government had
pursued an illegal and unilateral path that was “contrary to the normal
behavior in any democratic country like ours.”
Undeterred
by the government’s threat, and after a bitter debate, separatists in
the Catalan Parliament passed a resolution to create “a Catalan republic
as an independent state.” Most of the lawmakers opposed to independence
walked out of the chamber in protest before the vote.
Since
the region’s referendum on Oct. 1, Mr. Puigdemont had been squeezed in a
tightening vise of his own creation, and seemed at times to contradict
his own declarations as he squirmed for a way out.
Mr.
Puigdemont, a former small city mayor, was trapped between the demands
from Catalan hard-liners to declare independence on one side, and, on
the other side, the stiffening response from a Rajoy government
determined to preserve the nation’s Constitution and territorial
integrity.
Despite
pleas for mediation, he and his region’s independence bid were shunned
and condemned, not only by the Madrid central government but also by
European Union officials wary of encouraging similarly minded
secessionist movements around the Continent.
European
leaders made clear on Friday that they would not be recognizing Catalan
independence and would support Mr. Rajoy, as leader of one of the
bloc’s most important member states. Donald Tusk, the president of the
European Council, wrote in a Twitter post that “nothing changes” and
“Spain remains our only interlocutor.”
Searching
for a compromise, Mr. Puigdemont came close on Thursday to calling
early regional elections in hopes of forestalling the drastic measures
approved by the Spanish Senate on Friday and preserving Catalonia’s
autonomy.
But
Madrid would offer no guarantee that it would not clamp down on the
region, Mr. Puigdemont said, as he immediately faced a revolt in his own
ranks from secessionist hard-liners who called him a traitor.
After
hours of wavering on Thursday, he relented and threw the decision on
independence to Catalan lawmakers, who took the fateful plunge on
Friday.
Addressing
the Catalan Parliament in Spanish, Carlos Carrizosa, a lawmaker from
Ciudadanos, a party that opposes secession, told Mr. Puigdemont and
separatist lawmakers that, far from creating a new Catalan republic,
“you will go down in history for having fractured Catalonia and for
sinking the institutions of Catalonia.”
In
front of the assembly, he tore apart a copy of the independence
resolution. “Your job is not to promise unrealizable dreams but to
improve the daily lives of people,” he said.
Before
the independence vote, Marta Rovira, a separatist lawmaker, told the
assembly that “today we start on a new path” to build “a better
country.” She added, “We are creating a country free of repression.”
Catalan lawmakers who voted for independence could face prosecution for sedition, or even rebellion.
Marta
Ribas, a Catalan lawmaker, said that Madrid’s use of Article 155 was
unjustified, but also argued that “it’s a mistake to respond to one
outrageous act with another outrageous act.”
She added, “A declaration of independence won’t protect us from the 155, quite the contrary.”
In
the streets outside the Catalan Parliament in Barcelona, not far from a
boisterous pro-independence rally, a few Catalans quietly expressed
similar frustrations.
The
Oct. 1 referendum did not give the Catalan government the legitimacy to
vote to secede, said Federico Escolar, 53, a cafe owner.
“Most
of the people who would have voted no did not participate,” Mr. Escolar
said, while smoking a cigarette outside his cafe. “It was not a proper
referendum. It was illegal.”
Walking into a nearby subway station, Christina Juana, a 38-year-old social worker, agreed.
“Neither Puigdemont nor the Catalan government knows exactly what the Catalan people’s opinion is,” Ms. Juana said.
Before
the Catalan Parliament’s vote for independence on Friday, large crowds
had gathered outside in anticipation of what they hoped would be a
historic day for Catalonia.
Many
were draped in flags as they watched the parliamentary debate on two
large screens, cheering during speeches by pro-independence lawmakers
and hissing those of their opponents. When proceedings hit a lull, the
crowds cycled through a series of pro-independence chants.
“Spanish
occupiers!” was one, a reference to the national police officers who
tried to stop the Oct. 1 referendum by force. “Leave Catalonia!”
