The Catalan event does not withdraw from the streets | T …

Page / 12 in Spain
By Agustín Fontenla

From Madrid

The day after the publication of the Supreme Court's decision against the independence leaders, the sovereign movement has not withdrawn from the streets Catalonia, and its degree of rejection and indignation has not diminished either.

The reaction of the Catalan government to the events is controversial. On the one hand, it encourages and supports demonstrations and, on the other hand, it highlights the actions of the police to respond to protests. For its part, the Spanish government tried to leave the sentence behind, and redirect attention to the elections of November 10, during which the PSOE is committed to getting enough support to form a single-color executive, which goes out of all the political forces of the Council ministers.

The most massive demonstrations took place in Barcelona and Girona. In the coastal city, tens of thousands of people demonstrated in front of the Catalan government delegations and small groups burned Spanish flags and clashed with the uniforms of the Mossos of Esquadra and the National Police. In towns in the interior, such as Girona and Lleida, several thousand people were reluctant, which also led to clashes with security forces. According to Catalan government spokeswoman Meritxell Budó, more than 200 events took place in Catalan geography.

Before the development of the demonstrations, the behavior of the Catalan leadership was erratic. In addition to the contradictions between the support for the demonstrations and the reduction of repressive actions, the authorities of the main sovereign parties, Junts per Cat, Esquerra Republicana and the CUP, have not been able to reach an agreement to celebrate a plenary session. of the Catalan Parliament with which to draw up a common rejection answer to the sentence. For the moment, we know that the plenary session will take place on Thursday and that the Catalan government president will appear, Quim Torra.

At the same time, the Spanish government has tackled the Catalan crisis with a double strategy. On the one hand, he resumed communication for the November 10 campaign, with which he hopes to convince voters that the PSOE is the only party capable of guaranteeing a stable government. On the other hand, the Interior Ministry conducted research to determine who are the intellectual authors of the "Democratic Tsunami" movement that paralyzed the operations of the Catalan airport of El Prat yesterday.

Meanwhile, the main opposition forces took advantage of the conflict in Catalonia to take a stand against the general elections. The leader of the People's Party, Pablo Casado, invited to apply the law on national security to "guarantee public order" in the face of "riots". The right-wing formation is one of those who have insisted the most on the application of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution to intervene in the autonomous community, even before the sentence is pronounced.

On the other hand, United Podemos Secretary-General Pablo Iglesias reiterated his appeal to the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, consider forgiving condemned heads of independence. In this regard, and also as part of the campaign, the Executive Vice President, Carmen Calvo, used Iglesias' statements to rule out the possibility of a coalition after November 10th. "We can continue to talk about referendums, political prisoners and the impossibility of applying Article 155. Everything that separates us from them," said the Socialist leader.

As the pro-independence movement keeps its pace on the streets, political leaders juggle to adapt to the conflict of the election campaign. The absence of serious incidents, as well as the advances and setbacks of the Catalan authorities, keep the conflict within the limits of normality for the moment. However, the frame is expected and the week still reserves longer days social tension like this Friday when general strike in Catalonia to reject the sentence.