Catalonia: Escalation over independence referendum

According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), Jean-Claude Juncker should try to mediate between the conflict parties in the dispute over the planned independence referendum in Catalonia, Spain. The STP addressed this appeal to the EU Commission President on Wednesday. The human rights organization criticized that the Spanish government is trying to criminalize the pro-independence movement. “The Spanish government’s criminalization campaign will only lead to new tensions. Spain might even be close to a civil war,” said Ulrich Delius, the STP’s director. “If repression has become more important than dialogue, something is wrong with Spain’s democracy.”

On Wednesday, the Spanish police had searched Catalan government offices, and at least twelve people were arrested by the military police. Prior to this, the general prosecutor’s office had initiated investigations against 700 Catalan mayors who are supporting the independence referendum, which is scheduled for October 1, 2017.

“The Spanish government must finally take responsibility for the escalation of the conflict. If Madrid hadn’t categorically rejected a moderate reform of the existing Catalan autonomy statute, there would be no independence movement,” said Delius. “The fact that the proportion of Catalan independence supporters has risen from 15 to 40 percent within seven years is a direct consequence of this blockade policy.” In 2010, the leading Conservative People’s Party had declared 14 of the 226 articles of the Statute of Independence to be unconstitutional and invalid.

The STP emphasized that the escalating conflict should not be seen as a domestic problem. “If there are further arrests of members of the independence movement, the Catalans might soon turn to France to find shelter,” the human rights advocate explained. “Then, the conflict would be an international issue – and the EU could no longer ignore it.”

Header Photo: Lolo Manolo via Flickr