Barcelona - Tens of thousands of people
took to the streets of Catalonia's capital Barcelona on Sunday
to express their opposition to any declaration of independence
from Spain, showing how divided the region is on the issue.
The protesters rallied in central Barcelona, waving Spanish
and Catalan flags and banners saying "Catalonia is Spain" and
"Together we are stronger", as politicians on both sides
hardened their positions in the country's worst political crisis
for decades.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Saturday he
would not rule out removing Catalonia's government and calling a
fresh local election if it claimed independence, as well as
suspending the region's existing autonomous status.
The stark warning came days before Catalan leader Carles
Puigdemont is expected to address the region's parliament, on
Tuesday, when he could unilaterally declare independence.
"We feel both Catalan and Spanish," Araceli Ponze, 72, said
as she rallied in Barcelona. "We are facing a tremendous
unknown. We will see what happens this week but we have to speak
out very loudly so they know what we want."
The wealthy northeastern region of 7.5 million people, which
has its own language and culture, held an independence
referendum on Oct. 1 in defiance of a Spanish court ban.
More than 90% of the 2.3 million people who voted
backed secession, according to Catalan officials.
But that
turnout represented only 43% of the region's 5.3 million
eligible voters as many opponents of independence stayed away.
The Spanish government sent thousands of national police
into the region to prevent the vote. About 900 people were
injured when officers fired rubber bullets and charged crowds
with truncheons in scenes that shocked Spain and the world, and
dramatically escalated the dispute.
Losing Catalonia is almost unthinkable for the Spanish
government.
It would deprive Spain of about 16% of its people, a
fifth of its economic output and more than a quarter of its
exports. Catalonia is also the top destination for foreign
tourists, attracting about a quarter of Spain's total.
The political stand-off has pushed banks and companies to
move their headquarters outside Catalonia. Concern is growing in
EU capitals about the impact of the crisis on the Spanish
economy, the fourth largest in the euro zone, and on possible
spillovers to other economies.
Some European officials are also worried that any softening
in Spain's stance towards Catalan independence could fuel
secessionist feelings among other groups in Europe such as
Belgium's Flemings and Italy's Lombards.
'DRASTIC SOLUTIONS'
The demonstration in Barcelona was organised by the
anti-independence group Catalan Civil Society under the slogan
"Let's recover our senses" to mobilise what it believes is a
"silent majority" of citizens in Catalonia who oppose
independence.
"The people who have come to demonstrate don't feel Catalan
so much as Spanish," said 40-year-old engineer Raul Briones,
wearing a Spanish national soccer team shirt. "We like how
things have been up until now and want to go on like this."
It was a second day of protests after tens of thousands of
people gathered in 50 cities across Spain on Saturday, some
defending Spain's national unity and others dressed in white and
calling for talks to defuse the crisis.
Until this weekend, Rajoy has remained vague on whether he
would use article 155 of the constitution, the so-called nuclear
option which enables him to sack the regional government and
call a local election.
Asked if he was ready to trigger article 155, Rajoy told El
Pais newspaper: "I don't rule out anything that is within the
law ... Ideally, we shouldn't have to take drastic solutions but
for that not to happen there would have to be changes."
The conservative prime minister ruled out using mediators to
resolve the crisis - something Puigdemont has said he is open to
- and said the issue would not force a snap national election.
Rajoy added the government would "prevent any declaration of
independence from materialising in anything".
"Spain will continue being Spain," he said.
Nicola Sturgeon, the pro-independence leader of Scotland,
which voted to remain part of the United Kingdom in a 2014
referendum, said: "Everyone has to accept reality, this will not
be resolved by both sides going to extreme positions."
"You can't simply say in a democracy there is no legal or
legitimate way for people to decide their own future, that would
be an absurd position," she added.