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Spanish crackdown provokes Catalans to seek independence: Pundit

Saturday, 23 September 2017 6:45 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 23 September 2017 6:46 AM ]

Spanish national police officers stand in front of pro-referendum demonstrators during a protest near the Economy headquarters of Catalonia’s regional government in Barcelona on September 20, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Spain is on the brink of a political crisis as Catalan leaders insist on holding an independence vote on October 1 whereas the government in Madrid sees the move unconstitutional and wants to use any means its possesses to prevent the vote. Madrid has arrested several regional authorities, sparking anti-Spain protests in the autonomous region. Press TV has asked Isaac Bigio, a political commentator from London, and Ian Williams, a senior analyst with Foreign Policy in Focus from New York, to give their thoughts about the developments in Spain.

Bigio warned that the incarceration by the central government of regional officials and protesters in Catalonia will inflame the tensions and make the independence seekers sure to go ahead with the secession plan.

“The majority of the Catalans did not want independence until quite recently, but now 70 percent of the population in Catalonia want the referendum and many people that were in the middle now say ‘we want to vote’...because this idea of trying to repress a movement is not going to support the unity of Spain,” the analyst said on Friday night.

The Spanish government is putting pressure on Catalonia by dispatching police forces and repressing independence seekers and the heavy-handed crackdown is fueling the tensions in the region, he added.

PressTV-Hundreds protest amid Spain crackdown on Catalan vote

Hundreds of pro-independence supporters in Catalonia are protesting outside a courthouse to demand the release of regional government officials arrested in a crackdown by Spanish authorities over a planned secession referendum.

Bigio further said Spanish President Mariano Rajoy is in fact helping the pro-independence camp through his provocative policies.

“Madrid should allow some constitutional change; so, the Catalans could have the right to vote and Madrid should try to convince the Catalans to stay in Spain. That will be the best solution,” he suggested.

Meanwhile, Ian Williams, the other contributor on the panel, said the Catalan separatists are playing very cleverly by provoking the government in Madrid, “because they know the government is stupid enough” to fall in the trap.

The heavy-handed measures against people in Catalonia give those who are not determined to vote the justification to contribute to the referendum.

Williams also warned that the Spanish government will “not win the loyalty of people by sending in police, locking people up and banning demonstrations.”

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