{"id":365699,"date":"2017-10-27T13:29:42","date_gmt":"2017-10-27T13:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=365699"},"modified":"2017-10-27T13:29:42","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T13:29:42","slug":"catalans-declare-independence-from-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/10\/catalans-declare-independence-from-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Catalans declare independence from Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Catalan regional parliament has voted to declare independence from Spain, just as the Spanish government appears set to impose direct rule.<\/p>\n
The move was backed 70-10 in a ballot boycotted by opposition MPs.<\/p>\n
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy earlier told senators direct rule was needed to return “law, democracy and stability” to Catalonia.<\/p>\n
The crisis began when Catalans backed independence in an illegal vote earlier this month.<\/p>\n
The Catalan government said that of the 43% of potential voters who took part in the referendum, 90% were in favour of independence. But Spain’s Constitutional Court had ruled the vote illegal.<\/p>\n
In all, the motion declaring independence was approved with 70 in favour, 10 against and two abstentions in the 135-seat chamber.<\/p>\n
Immediately afterwards, Mr Rajoy called for all Spaniards to remain calm, promising to “restore legality” to Catalonia.<\/p>\n
Spain’s Senate is still to vote on whether for the first time to enact Article 155 of the Spanish constitution, which empowers the government to take “all measures necessary to compel” a region in case of a crisis.<\/p>\n
It would enable Madrid to fire Catalan leaders, and take control of the region’s finances, police and public media.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Catalan regional parliament has voted to declare independence from Spain, just as the Spanish government appears set to impose direct rule. The move was backed 70-10 in a ballot boycotted by opposition MPs. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy earlier told senators direct rule was needed to return “law, democracy and stability” to Catalonia. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107,11],"tags":[345,111],"yoast_head":"\n