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SPAIN WAS BRACED for further political upheaval today after Catalonia’s leader said the region would declare independence “in a matter of days”.
Carles Puigdemont said his government would “act at the end of this week or the beginning of next”, the Catalan regional leader told the BBC in an interview yesterday.
He spoke after hundreds of thousands of Catalans rallied in fury over violence by police against voters during a banned referendum on independence for their region on Sunday.
The central government and national courts branded the referendum illegal.
But Catalan leaders claimed the results showed the region had the right to secede and said they may unilaterally declare independence.
“We are going to declare independence 48 hours after all the official results are counted,” Puigdemont said in the interview.
His remarks came hours after Spain’s King Felipe VI ramped up tensions by urging authorities to defend “constitutional order”.
Felipe’s dramatic intervention late last night aimed to calm Spain’s deepest political crisis in decades, but risked further fanning resentment in the region.
Felipe, 49, abandoned his previously measured tone over tensions with Catalonia, accusing its leaders of acting outside the law.
“With their irresponsible conduct they could put at risk the economic and social stability of Catalonia and all of Spain,” he said.
It is the responsibility of the legitimate state powers to ensure constitutional order.
‘Fuel to the fire’
Felipe repeated his earlier calls for harmony between Spaniards.
But after Sunday’s violence, it was a delicate balancing act for a Spanish sovereign.
People watching in a bar in Barcelona whistled and booed after the king’s speech.
“It is a real disgrace… Far from solving anything it has added fuel to the fire,” said Domingo Gutierrez, a 61-year-old trucker.
He did not say a word about the people who were injured… I have never been pro-independence, my parents are from Andalucia. But now I am more for independence than anyone, thanks to people like that.
Catalans denounce ‘occupation’
Police unions and political experts warned that Spain’s government risks losing control of the north-eastern region.
It is considered Spain’s worst political crisis since an attempted military coup in 1981.
That was defused by Felipe’s father, King Juan Carlos I, also in a stern television appearance.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters in Barcelona yesterday yelled for national security forces to get out of the region, branding them “occupation forces”.
In Sunday’s disturbances, Puigdemont said nearly 900 people had received medical attention, though local authorities confirmed a total of 92 injured.
Four were hospitalised, two in serious condition. The national government said more than 400 police officers were hurt.
Government ‘losing control’
Angry protesters rallied outside Catalan hotels where state security forces were lodged, police groups said yesterday.
Two hotels said they made police officers who were staying there leave, on the orders of local officials.
Spanish authorities “are losing control, it is clear”, Javier Perez Royo, a constitutional law professor at the University of Seville, told AFP.
‘Inciting rebellion’
A rich industrial region of 7.5 million people, Catalonia accounts for a fifth of Spain’s economy.
It has its own language and cultural traditions.
Its claims for independence date back centuries but have surged during recent years of economic crisis.
Madrid blames the Catalan regional authorities for the tensions.
“The government of Catalonia is pushing the population to the abyss and inciting rebellion in the streets,” Spain’s Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said yesterday.
He said his government would take “all measures necessary to stop acts of harassment”.
Catalans split
Puigdemont’s regional government claimed that 2.26 million people took part in the poll, or just over 42 percent of the electorate – but the vote was held without regular electoral lists or observers.
Puigdemont has said he will present the results to the region’s parliament, where separatist lawmakers hold a majority – a step towards a possible declaration of independence.
The regional government said 90% of those who voted backed independence, but polls indicate Catalans are split.
Puigdemont has called for international mediation in the crisis. The European Union’s executive commission has voiced concern.
The European Parliament was scheduled to debate the Catalonia crisis today.
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I booked with them for a family holiday last may and the service was great. I got an email last Friday with a sale notice and was going to book again, but there were no flights listed for next year. Thank god I didn’t.
Chances are they knew what was about to happen, and still allowed sale emails to go out to customers… surely that’s illegal!
Yeah got that too “up to 60% off” on Friday in my inbox.. I hope no one got stiffed with that one.
Only on Wednesday night last week were we looking for somewhere for October, decided we’d book a deal we saw for Portugal and we’d pay for it at the end of the month. So lucky but they would have taken payment for the holiday had we had it at the time, surely they must have known at that stage?
Why not just call visa and claim your money back?
I went onto aer lingus earlier, my flights are confirmed, called the hotel, my hotel booking is not. Called ulster bank (visa debit) and asked for a chargeback on the hotel reservation. filled out the form online, they said it should be fine and will get back to me
@iamahorse, where did you find the form online? I have been on to them via phone, twitter and called to my branch in person. Still no form. Getting antsy.
It is illegal for any company to continue to trade when they are knowingly insolvent. ..The Directors are liable under the Companies Act and can face criminal charges. It is a long drawn out process and I cannot think of anyone doing time for such an offence in this country
Why people don’t book flights and hotels themselves with all the websites out there il never know. Far too risky booking through travel agents.
Convenience
To be honest, for me, it worked out cheaper. This wasn’t a travel agent I went to, it was the website itself, so I did the research and it came back about 200 euro less than booking everything seperately myself. That was including transfers and all that extra stuff. Plus there was a rep on site and kids clubs etc. (not that we used them), So for a quick family vacation, this would be the way to go.
Nah, flight, hotel, taxi, job done. No worries, no bus tour of the south of Spain
Guru you’re slagging people for being lazy, see you wont even learn how to code!
Excuse me Mumpsimus, travel agents offer protection in incidences like this. My own company for example, doesn’t pay for accommodation until the client has travelled, thus protecting the customers money completely. I have liased directly with hotels and reprotected all my clients holidays and no one is out of pocket. So don’t blame “travel agents” for this. Low-cost Holidays is a huge company with many branches in accommodation only, flights, packages, they are at fault, not the general travel agencies, many of whom are also suffering the fall out from this.
If you book it yourself you won’t have the protections you would if you had booked through a travel agent.
That’s what travel insurance in for.
If you paid by credit card you can get your money back up to 60 days after the transaction. Charge back department. They might try fob you off but persist, they are obliged by law to refund for goods or services not received. They might try to get you you are not entitled to claim as the agency are bonded but register the claim and then you are covered for any outstanding amount no matter how long the claim takes to process.
Going away next month and had to pay hotel again but Royal Bank of Scotland said they will refund me. Let’s wait and see!
Just as well I booked with clickandgo !!
I heard they are next to go!
There are a lot of people out there who don’t mind paying a substantial extra sum of money to have someone else do the organising and worrying for them, and while some know the extra costs involved others are blissfully unaware of how much they could save by doing the trawling themselves but others are equally unaware of how much difference there is between one company and another. LCH were never at the races in the price war ! No intention of sharing my bag of tricks here as I am selfish beyond repentance, but there’s a lotta eejits out there too ! To each his/her own ! There were a lot of worried accommodation owners where I was last week because of the low value of sterling and the fact that it makes accommodation more expensive for people travelling on pounds or companies buying with a strong Sterling , but I assume the season’s requirements were bought forward ? Or maybe not. I would hate to tell you how much I paid as against how much I was quoted for a “package” … being the high season ya know… fair enough, if you have to go at a certain time, no flexibility, kids off school, and you must have THAT Gaff, well it is the seller’s market ! So sorry for those who get caught up in the mire of the back office finances of these big companies and I hope they are successful in getting a refund or an alternative holiday.
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