People hold Catalan pro-independence Estelada flags and Basque Country flags as they take part in a human chain in the northern Spain Basque village of Lazkao during a protest on Sunday. — AFP BARCELONA, Oct 23 (AFP): Catalan separatists Monday threatened "mass civil disobedience" against the Spanish government if it fulfils its vow to depose the region's secessionist leader to stifle his drive for independence.
Firefighters, teachers and students weighed into the dispute, warning of strikes and protests, at the start of a crucial week in Spain's deepest political crisis in decades.
Madrid has said it will suspend the powers of the semi-autonomous region, where separatist leaders held a banned independence referendum on October 1.
Catalonia's separatist parties announced they would hold a full session Thursday to decide their response.
That could be an opportunity for the region to follow through on threats to declare unilateral independence from Spain, a prospect that has raised fears of unrest. The Senate is set to suspend the territory's limited self-rule in a meeting expected Friday.
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said Catalan President Carles Puigdemont will be out of a job as soon as this weekend.
"He will no longer be able to sign anything, he will no longer be able to take decisions, he will no longer receive a salary," Saenz de Santamaria told radio Onda Cero.
The far-left Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), which backs Puigdemont's coalition, said Madrid's post-referendum clampdown was the "biggest assault" against the Catalan people since the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
Franco -- who ruled from 1939 until 1975 -- suppressed Catalonia's autonomy, language and culture.
"This assault will receive a response in the form of massive civil disobedience," the CUP, a key regional power broker, said in a statement.
Lluis Corominas, spokesman of the Together for Yes ruling coalition, meanwhile urged a "peaceful and democratic defence of Catalan institutions".
He branded the Spanish response to the independence drive "a case of unprecedented institutional violence".
Catalan firefighters hinted they may offer resistance in the dispute by refusing to obey orders from national authorities.
"It depends on what they ask us to do. If there is a road that is blocked and they send us to unblock it, maybe we won't go," said a spokesman for a firefighter association associated to the separatist movement.
Teachers called a protest march for Thursday, and students said they will go on strike from that day.
Half a million angry separatists took to the streets of Barcelona on Saturday after Rajoy announced he would replace Puigdemont and his executive.
To do so, Madrid will use previously untested constitutional powers to stop Catalonia breaking away.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
