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October 28th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : The central government of Spain on Saturday moved to seize direct control of Catalonia, sacking its government institutions and police chief a day after the Catalan regional parliament’s independence declaration in response to Madrid’s threats and unwillingness to discuss a political settlement.
Madrid sacked Josep Lluis Trapero, the highest-ranking officer of the Mossos d’Esquadra regional police after Friday’s dismissal of Catalonia’s President Carles Puigdemont, his deputy, all ministers, as well as the entire parliament. With its move, the Spanish government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy attempts to implement what many described as “the nuclear option”, to impose direct control and to suspend Catalonia’s autonomous status.
Moving to crush Catalonia’s expression of its will to independence based on dialog with Madrid, denounced by Rajoy as an “escalation of disobedience”, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called for elections in Catalonia to be held on December 21 while the region is ruled under sweeping powers granted by the Senate in Madrid.
In other words, Catalonia, which has declared its independence from Spain due to Madrid’s expressed unwillingness to dialog, will be forced to hold snap elections on December 21, organized under direct rule from Madrid and imposed under the guns of Madrid’s national police.
The sacking of regional police chief Trapero, who as the highest-ranking officer of the Mossos d’Esquadra would have to prioritize orders from Barcelona instead of Madrid, was announced in Saturday’s official government gazette. Madrid accuses Trapero of disobeying court orders to block a banned October 1 independence referendum. Instead, the ballot was disrupted, violently in many cases, by officers from Spain’s national police and Guardia Civil paramilitary forces.
All eyes this weekend will be on whether Catalonia’s separatist executive, led by Carles Puigdemont, will willingly step aside for caretaker envoys from Madrid. Tens of thousands celebrated in Barcelona and other Catalan cities after Friday’s independence declaration, and the Mossos d’Esquadra – with or without Trapero – are more likely to take orders from Barcelona than from Madrid and protect the Catalonian parliament, parliamentarians and politicians.
The potential for armed clashes between the Mossos d’Esquadra and the Guardia Civil is present and could be ignited even by an unplanned or unmindful coincident, or by provocations. Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria is due to meet later with secretaries of state who will likely attempt to take charge of Catalonia’s regional ministries.
Tens of thousands celebrated in Barcelona and other Catalan cities after Friday’s independence declaration. However, anti-secession rallies have been called for in the Spanish capital, Madrid, on Saturday, and for the Catalan capital Barcelona on Sunday.
The move to quash Catalan powers under Article 155 of the Spanish constitution is likely to make separatists more determined and to prompt many who initially were against independence to join the ranks of the separatists – if for no other reason than to defy the Francoesque attitude displayed by Rajoy and his administration in Madrid. It is the first time the central government has curtailed autonomy in the region since dictator Francisco Franco’s repressive 1939-75 rule.
Independence supporters have warned they will resist the temporary measure, implemented under a constitutional article devised to rein in rebel regions. “We won’t cave in to Rajoy’s authoritarianism nor to 155,” the far-left CUP party, an ally of Puigdemont, tweeted on Friday. A motion to declare Catalonia a “republic” was passed Friday with 70 votes out of 135 in the regional parliament, where pro-secessionists hold sway. Catalan leaders point to the “Yes” vote in the deeply-divisive October 1 referendum as a mandate for independence, even though less than half of voters took part.
The European Union shows its true face and unwavering support for Madrid. No reflection upon the fact that illegal secession may become a necessity when a national constitution does not provide legal remedies to pursue a people’s will to self-determination. EU President Donald Tusk insisted Madrid “remains our only interlocutor” in Spain, but urged it to exercise restraint. “I hope the Spanish government favors force of argument, not argument of force,” he tweeted. In other words, no warning that the use of force would be condemned.
CH/L – nsnbc 28.10.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/10/28/86876/
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