BARCELONA,
Spain — In a major escalation of Spain’s territorial conflict, Catalan
lawmakers declared independence on Friday, setting up a showdown with
the central government in coming days.
Undeterred
by the government’s threat to seize control of Catalonia, separatists
in the region’s Parliament passed a resolution to “create a Catalan
republic as an independent state.” In protest, lawmakers opposed to
independence walked out of the chamber before the vote.
Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy urged the Spanish Senate to invoke Article 155 of Spain’s Constitution,
allowing him to impose direct rule on Catalonia, as the country’s
careened into its greatest constitutional crisis since it embraced
democracy in 1978.
In
his address to the Senate, Mr. Rajoy said there was “no alternative”
because the Catalan leader, Carles Puigdemont, and his separatist
cabinet had pursued an illegal and unilateral path that was “contrary to
the normal behavior in any democratic country like ours.”
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Carles
Puigdemont, the Catalan leader, had come close on Thursday to calling
early regional elections, but dropped the idea and instead told
Catalonia’s Parliament that it would make a decision on independence the
next day. Mr. Puigdemont leads a fragile separatist coalition that has
72 of the Catalan Parliament’s 135 seats.
During
the parliamentary debate that preceded the vote, Catalan lawmakers
traded accusations and in turn described the occasion as “historic” and
“happy,” or instead “tragic” and a serious violation of Spain’s
Constitution.
Addressing
the Catalan Parliament in Spanish, Carlos Carrizo, 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.”
Catalonia
Catch up here on the referendum and its fallout.
In
front of the assembly, he tore apart the document of the independence
resolution. “Your job is not to promise unrealizable dreams but to
improve the daily lives of people,” he added.
Mr.
Puigdemont’s government has been flouting Spain’s Constitution since
early September, when separatist lawmakers voted to hold a binding
referendum on independence on Oct. 1 as a key step toward statehood.
Catalans who went to the polls voted overwhelmingly to approve independence, but the referendum took place without legal guarantees and with most opponents of independence staying away.
The referendum was marred by clashes between the Spanish national police and Catalan citizens that left hundreds injured, including police officers.
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.”
The Catalan lawmakers could face prosecution for sedition, or even rebellion, if they voted to declare independence.
They
also met as the Spanish Senate was voting to allow Prime Minister
Mariano Rajoy to end Catalonia’s administrative autonomy, using
emergency powers under Article 155 of the national Constitution. Marta
Ribas, a lawmaker, said that Madrid’s measures were unjustified.
But
she 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.”
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