At least 14 people have been arrested in Catalonia as part of the operation conducted by the Spanish Civil Guard to block the independence referendum on October XNUMXst, which Madrid considers illegal. The police also seized between nine and ten million files ready for consultation and carried out about forty searches, which involved various offices of Catalan institutions. In addition to senior Catalan officials, including the general secretary for the economy, Josep Maria Jovè number two of the vice president of the Generalitat of CATALONIA, Oriol Junquera, there are also the managers of two private companies in whose offices propaganda and electoral material was found . The millions of ballot papers already printed were hidden in a factory in the Catalan town of Bigues i Riells. According to the broadcaster Tve, all the files ready for consultation are now in the hands of the police. The Spanish Interior Ministry confirmed the searches, but not the numbers of the arrests. "The operation is still open," police sources said. Among the Catalan institutions affected by arrests and searches are the Catalan departments of Economy, Foreign Affairs, and Social Affairs, the Information Technology Center (CTTI) and the Tax Agency of CATALONIA. The aim of the entire operation is not only to dismantle the organizational and logistical network of the referendum, but also to verify the use of public funds for this purpose.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy defended the operation in parliament, stating that it corresponds to the decisions of the court "to comply with the law". Then he received separately Pedro Sanchez and Albert Rivera, respectively leaders of the Socialist Party and of Ciudadanos, the two forces that do not participate in his minority government but have allowed its formation. Rivera, whose party was born in Barcelona in opposition to the separatists, expressed clear support for government action, necessary “to stop the coup against democracy in Catalonia. Sanchez has not commented on the meeting so far, but the PSOE has made it known that it has "always defended the law" and that it maintains support for the government "including for measures that are difficult to accept". The Catalan wing of the Socialist Party urged the local government in Barcelona to renounce the unilateral referendum, calling for the opening of a process of dialogue between the parties. No support for the arrests by Podemos. The leader of the anti-system party, Pablo Iglesias, said he "does not think it makes sense that there are political prisoners in a democratic country".
The reactions of the Italian political world
"I hope there are no worrying developments", so the Prime Minister, Paolo Gentiloni, in New York for the UN general assembly. This is “an internal issue within Spain, I hope it does not have worrying developments. Anyone who has visited that country knows that any comparison with other contexts such as the Italian one is difficult ”.
“Total solidarity with the 14 citizens arrested in Caraligna by the Spanish government for" political "reasons, to prevent a free referendum. Ten million ballot papers seized, bank accounts blocked, militants arrested. As against the Lega in Italy, the strong powers use every means to block change. Shame, the ideas don't stop ”. This was stated in a statement by the League secretary Matteo Salvini.
Luigi Di Maio: “There is great apprehension about what is happening in Catalonia. We invite the Foreign Minister to carefully follow what is happening also because there will be many Italians. We have always been for the free expression of a people and if a people asks to be able to take a decision with a democratic instrument it must be able to do so. But these issues concern Catalonia and Spain and they have to decide ”. He said it
“Italy stands by while Spain represses through arrests a legitimate, peaceful and democratic request of the people and of the Government, duly elected by the citizens, of Catalonia, to be able to hold a referendum. The silence of our government is embarrassing, as usual unable to take any position ”. He states it Roberto Calderoli, vice president of the Senate and responsible for the organization and territory of the Northern League. “What are we waiting for to withdraw our ambassador to Madrid until Spain returns to guaranteeing democracy?”.
How the referendum was born in Catalonia
The referendum on Catalan independence scheduled for October 1, which is tearing the country apart and creating a political, institutional and legal clash unprecedented in the history of democratic Spain, has a history of almost more than ten years. Let's go to March 2006, in fact, when the Spanish Parliament adopts a new version of the Catalan Statute which strengthens the autonomy of the Autonomous Community and in its preamble defines Catalonia as “a nation” within the Spanish state. The new statute also establishes the "right and duty" of Catalan citizens to know and speak the two official languages, Catalan and Castilian. But in July of that year, Mariano Rajoy's Popular party, at the time in opposition, filed an appeal against the new Statute before the Constitutional Court and defined the text as a threat to the unity of Spain. The Court's decision comes four years later, in June 2010, when the Spanish Supreme Constitutional Court cancels part of the Catalan Statute, establishes that the reference to Catalonia as a "nation" has "no legal value" and that the Constitution " it recognizes nothing but the Spanish nation ”. The Court denies the use of the Catalan language as a first language in Catalan administrations and in the media. The court's decision triggers the reaction of part of the Catalans, and a month later a few thousand people take to the streets shouting 'We are a nation, we decide'.
A much more impressive event will take place two years later, on 11 September 2012, when nearly a million people invade the streets of Barcelona on the occasion of the Catalan festival, with the slogan “Catalonia next state of Europe '. Meanwhile Rajoy has come to the Madrid government with the promise of a drastic fiscal policy of austerity. In this context, the prime minister of the popular denies the president of Catalonia Artur Mas, a nationalist and conservative with few ambitions for independence, greater fiscal autonomy for Catalonia, as is the case for the Basque Country and Navarre. A few months later, Mas wins the Catalan elections with the promise of holding a referendum on self-determination. The feeling of independence grows and the following year, again on the occasion of the 'Diada', the demonstrators form a human chain of 400 km for the whole region, as a sign of the desire for independence of the region of seven and a half million inhabitants, the most rich in Spain of which it produces 18% of GDP. On November 9, 2014, Catalonia organized a symbolic consultation, not recognized by the Madrid government and the Constitutional Court, which found it illegitimate. In the referendum the vote in favor of independence reaches over 80% but participation is modest, only 36% of those entitled to vote go to the polls. On 27 September 2015, Catalonia goes to the polls and the early elections are presented as a plebiscite for or against independence. The separatist parties, right and left, reach 47,8% and for the first time they are the majority in the Catalan Parliament. On 9 November 2015 the Catalan Chamber adopted a resolution with which it launches the process that must end with the proclamation of the independent Catalan state in the form of a Republic at the latest in 2017. The resolution will be annulled by the Constitutional Court. On 10 January 2016, Carles Puigdemont, who has always been a separatist, becomes president of the Generalitat of Catalonia and in June 2017 announces the celebration of a self-determination referendum for 1 October, despite the prohibition of Spanish justice. The same government of Rajoy immediately ensures that "the referendum will not be held". In September, the Constitutional Court suspends the decree with which the Catalan government has called the referendum and the Catalan Parliament, in response, approves the so-called 'breaking law', a transitional provision which effectively establishes the institutional transition of Catalonia towards independence and the Republic in the event of a 'Yes' victory in the referendum. But the Court also suspends this law. The separatists repeat that the referendum will take place. The Spanish authorities reiterate that they will do everything to avoid this.