Tag Archives: Protests

Spain to take control of Catalonia if gets ambiguous reply on independence

People walk with a huge Catalan flag during Spain's National Day in Barcelona.

MADRID (Reuters) – The Spanish government will take control of Catalonia if regional leader Carles Puigdemont replies ambiguously to Madrid’s question about whether he has declared independence from Spain, the interior minister said on Saturday.

Puigdemont made a symbolic declaration of independence on Tuesday night, only to suspend it seconds later and call for negotiations with Madrid on the region’s future.

Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has given him until Monday to clarify his position – and then until Thursday to change his mind if he insists on a split – threatening to suspend Catalonia’s autonomy if he chooses independence.

“The answer must be without any ambiguity. He must say ‘yes’ or ‘no’,” Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido told Cope radio.

“If he answers ambiguously, it means he doesn’t want dialogue and thus the Spanish government will have to take action,” he also said.

Puigdemont, who is holding consultations with local parties to prepare his answer, faces a tough dilemma.

If he says he did proclaim independence, the central government will step in. If he says he did not declare it, then the far-left Catalan party CUP would probably withdraw its support for his minority government.

CUP on Friday called on Puigdemont to make an unequivocal declaration of independence in defiance of the Madrid government’s deadlines.

Such a hardline position has also been backed by influential pro-independence civic group Asamblea Nacional Catalana (Catalan National Assembly).

They were joined on Saturday by another key member of Puigdemont’s coalition, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, whose leader Oriol Junqueras said they should press ahead with splitting from Spain following an independence vote.

The Catalan government said 90 percent of Catalans had voted for a breakaway in an Oct. 1 referendum that central authorities in Madrid had declared illegal and most opponents of independence boycotted, reducing turnout to around 43 percent.

“We have an unequivocal and absolute commitment to fulfill the democratic mandate from Oct. 1,” Junqueras said.

Under Article 155 of the Spanish constitution, the central government in Madrid can suspend the political autonomy of a region if it breaks the law.

This article, which enables Rajoy to sack the Catalan government and call a regional election, has never been activated since the constitution was adopted in 1978 after the death of dictator Francisco Franco.

(Reporting by Rodrigo de Miguel and Julien Toyer; Editing by Adrian Croft)

NFL: League not seeking mandate for players to stand during anthem

FILE PHOTO: NFL commissioner Roger Goodell smiles as he walks around StubHub Center before the game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Chargers, Carson, CA, USA Oct 1, 2017. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

By Frank Pingue

(Reuters) – The NFL said on Friday it has no plans to mandate players stand for the U.S. national anthem, but will rather present a possible solution on how to end the controversial protests when it meets with team owners next week.

Commissioner Roger Goodell, along with the head of the NFL Players Association, will meet with the owners from Oct. 17-18 in New York where the issue of player protests during the U.S. national anthem is expected to command much attention.

“(Goodell) has a plan that he is going to present to owners about how to use our platform to both raise awareness and make progress on issues of social justice and equality in this country,” NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said on a conference call.

“What we don’t have is a proposal that changes our policy, we don’t have something that mandates anything. That’s clear. If that was the case I doubt the head of the NFLPA would have put a joint statement out with us.”

The statement released on Wednesday said Goodell invited NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith to the meetings and that the agenda will be a continuation of how to make progress on the important social issues that players have vocalized.

The protests, in a league where African-Americans make up the majority of players, have continued through the current season, with some players kneeling and others standing arm-in-arm in solidarity.

The gesture is intended to call attention to what protesting players see as a pattern of racism in the treatment of African-Americans by U.S. police.

The issue has been exacerbated after U.S. President Donald Trump said last month that players who did not stand during the anthem should be fired.

Lockhart said the discussions will focus on how to use the broad platforms of the NFL, players and clubs to try and make progress on issues of equality, social justice and criminal justice reform.

“These are issues that are important to our clubs, issues that are important to our players, issues that are important to the communities in which we play,” said Lockhart.

“That’s what we are discussing. So for everyone who has speculated over the last few days that somehow there is a proposal that is set for a vote on Tuesday or Wednesday you are speculating.

“Those who are reporting it as fact are reporting it incorrectly.”

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Christian Radnedge)

Kenya vote in balance as crisis deepens after Odinga quits

A supporter of Kenyan opposition National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition, carries a banner depicting Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga during a protest along a street in Nairobi, Kenya, October 11, 2017. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

By Katharine Houreld and Duncan Miriri

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya lurched deeper into political crisis on Wednesday as a court ruling and a parliamentary vote appeared to ease Uhuru Kenyatta’s path to a second term as president, a day after his rival quit an election they were to contest.

Kenyatta and Raila Odinga were due to face off in a repeat election on Oct. 26, after the Supreme Court annulled their August ballot — in which the president was declared the winner — due to irregularities. [nL8N1LI1QY]

But Odinga pulled out of the re-run on Tuesday, fuelling doubts about whether it would be contested at all. Wednesday’s interventions by the judiciary and legislature added to the uncertainty.

As police used teargas to disperse opposition protesters demanding electoral reform, the High Court approved a petition by Ekuru Aukot, who polled less than 1 percent in the August vote, to contest the second ballot.

Aukot has yet to announce if he will definitely run.

Further muddying the political waters, parliament passed an election law amendment stating that if one candidate withdrew from the re-run election, the remaining one would automatically win. The vote was boycotted by opposition lawmakers.

That would mean Kenyatta could be declared president if he faced no challengers. [nL8N1MM0U5]

The events stoked confusion among voters and fears that politically-driven violence might escalate. Months of political uncertainty have already blunted growth in East Africa’s richest nation, a long-time ally of the West.

“There’s a real atmosphere of confusion and uncertainty. There seems to be dozens of opinions of what should come next,” said Murithi Mutiga, a senior Horn of Africa analyst for the global thinktank International Crisis Group.

UNEASE

Justifying his pullout on Tuesday, Odinga said the election would not be free and fair and renewed calls for the electoral board (IEBC), which he blamed for the procedural irregularities identified in the first ballot, to be replaced. [nL8N1ML3OC]

Opposition supporters on Wednesday renewed their protests for electoral reform.

Demonstrators lit bonfires in Kisumu, an Odinga stronghold in the country’s west, while more than a thousand supporters marched through the central business district in the capital Nairobi. Police used teargas to disperse them in both cities, witnesses said.

A repeat of the widespread ethnic clashes that killed 1,200 people following a disputed presidential poll in 2007 appears unlikely at this stage.

But at least 37 people were killed in protests immediately following the August vote, almost all of them by police, a Kenyan rights group said Monday. [nL8N1MK1YD]

“We want a reformed IEBC,” said Elisha Odhiambo, an opposition legislator, referring to the electoral board, which has frequently relied on riot police dispersing protests outside its offices in recent weeks.

After the High Court ruling in his favour, Aukot told reporters that he still had concerns about the board and would issue a statement in a day or two giving clarity about his plans.

It was unclear if other candidates from the first ballot with little support would also seek to be included, but the election board said it still had time to print ballot papers.

The Sept. 1 Supreme Court judgement that nullified Kenyatta’s 1.4 million vote win also stipulated elections had to be held within 60 days.

If that schedule is not met, the constitution provides for the speaker of parliament, a member of Kenyatta’s party, to take power.

With two weeks to go until the elections, it is still unclear who will stand.

“I would expect one of the parties will try to seek an authoritative announcement from the Supreme Court,” International Crisis Group’s Mutiga said.

Amid the political uncertainty, the government has trimmed this year’s GDP growth forecast from 5.9 percent to 5.5 percent last month.

The country’s equity markets slid further on Wednesday. Kenya’s all share index slipped 1.24 percent while the blue chip index fell 1.14 percent.

(Additional reporting by Humphrey Malalo and George Obulutsa; editing by John Stonestreet)

Spain takes step toward direct rule over Catalonia’s independence move

Spain´s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy attends a cabinet meeting at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid, October 11, 2017. Moncloa handout via REUTERS

By Blanca Rodríguez and Sonya Dowsett

MADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) – Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy took the first step on Wednesday toward suspending Catalonia’s political autonomy and ruling the region directly to thwart a push for independence.

He demanded that the regional government clarify whether it now considered itself independent following a speech by Catalan president Carles Puigdemont on Tuesday night.

This requirement is a necessary step before triggering Article 155 of the constitution, which would allow Madrid to suspend the region’s political autonomy.

Rajoy’s move could deepen the confrontation between Madrid and Catalonia but it also signals a way out of Spain’s biggest political crisis since a failed military coup in 1981.

The prime minister would be likely to call a snap regional election after activating the constitutional mechanism allowing him to do so.

Puigdemont made a symbolic declaration of independence from Spain on Tuesday night but then immediately suspended it and called for talks with the Madrid government.

“The cabinet has agreed this morning to formally request the Catalan government to confirm whether it has declared the independence of Catalonia, regardless of the deliberate confusion created over its implementation,” Rajoy said in a televised address after a cabinet meeting to consider the government’s response.

Without giving a specific deadline for the Catalan government to reply, Rajoy said: “The answer from the Catalan president will determine future events, in the next few days.”

It is not yet clear if and when the Catalan government would answer the requirement but it now faces a conundrum, political analysts say.

If Puigdemont says he did declare independence, the government would likely trigger Article 155. If he says he did not declare it, then far-left party CUP would likely withdraw its support to his minority government.

“Rajoy has two objectives: if Puigdemont remains ambiguous, the pro-independence movement will get more fragmented; if Puigdemont insists on defending independence then Rajoy will be able to apply Article 155,” said Antonio Barroso, deputy director of London-based research firm Teneo Intelligence.

“Either way Rajoy’s aim would be to first restore the rule of law in Catalonia and this could at some point lead to early elections in the region”.

DIALOGUE CALL DISMISSED

Puigdemont had been widely expected to unilaterally declare Catalonia’s independence on Tuesday after the Catalan government said 90 percent of Catalans had voted for a breakaway in an Oct. 1 referendum that Spain had declared illegal and which most opponents of independence boycotted.

Madrid responded angrily to Puigdemont’s speech, saying the Catalan government could not act on the results of the referendum.

“Neither Mr. Puigdemont nor anyone else can claim, without returning to legality and democracy, to impose mediation… Dialogue between democrats takes place within the law,” Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said.

Invoking Article 155 to ease Spain’s worst political crisis in four decades would make prospects of a negotiated solution to the Catalonia crisis even more remote.

A spokesman for the Catalan government said earlier on Wednesday that if Madrid went down this road, it would press ahead with independence.

“We have given up absolutely nothing…We have taken a time out…which doesn’t mean a step backwards, or a renunciation or anything like that,” Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull told Catalunya Radio.

Socialist opposition leader Pedro Sanchez said he would back Rajoy if he had to activate Article 155 and said he had agreed with the prime minister to open a constitutional reform within six months to discuss how Catalonia could fit better in Spain.

It was not clear how the Catalan government would respond to the offer.

MARKET RELIEF

Puigdemont’s speech also disappointed supporters of independence, thousands of whom watched proceedings on giant screens outside parliament before sadly leaving for home.

Financial markets, however, were encouraged that an immediate declaration of independence had been avoided.

Following Puigdemont’s speech, Spain’s benchmark IBEX share index rose as much as 1.6 percent, outperforming the pan-European STOXX 600 index. The rally pushed the main world stocks index, the MSCI’s 47-country ‘All-World’ index, to a record high.

Spain’s 10-year government bond yield — which moves inversely to the price — dropped 5 basis points to 1.65 percent in early trade, according to Tradeweb data.

In Brussels, there was relief that the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy now had at least bought some time to deal with a crisis that was still far from over.

One EU official said Puigdemont “seems to have listened to advice not to do something irreversible”.

The Catalan crisis has deeply divided the northeastern region itself as well as the Spanish nation. Opinion polls conducted before the vote suggested a minority of about 40 percent of residents in Catalonia backed independence.

The stakes are high — losing Catalonia, which has its own language and culture, would deprive Spain of a fifth of its economic output and more than a quarter of exports.

Some of Catalonia’s largest companies have moved their head offices out of the region and others were set to follow if he had declared independence.

(Additional reporting by Julien Toyer, Paul Day, Jesus Aguado; Writing by Adrian Croft; Editing by Julien Toyer and Angus MacSwan)

After bloodshed, Venezuelan government and foes battle for votes

After bloodshed, Venezuelan government and foes battle for votes

By Andrew Cawthorne and Francisco Aguilar

BARINAS, Venezuela (Reuters) – Tirelessly traversing the lethargic plains of Venezuela, a brother of former leader Hugo Chavez and an ally of a famous opposition detainee vie for votes.

The governorship race in Barinas state – the Chavez family’s stronghold – is the most emblematic of state elections taking place nationwide on Sunday just weeks after opposition-led protests that shook Venezuela and claimed at least 125 lives.

“At every rally, Hugo Chavez is out front, showing us the way,” enthuses Argenis Chavez, 59, an electrical engineer and incumbent governor, jumping on a bike and evoking his late elder brother at every campaign stop.

“In Barinas, defeating the government means defeating the Chavez family who have wielded power at whim for 18 years,” counters opposition rival Freddy Superlano, 41, wearing a shirt with the image of his arrested party leader Leopoldo Lopez.

This year’s prolonged protests failed to bring down the government of President Nicolas Maduro, but they hardened global opinion against the ruling socialists and led to U.S. sanctions.

Now, opposition leaders want their demoralized supporters to turn out en masse at the gubernatorial polls to overturn Maduro’s majority in 20 of Venezuela’s 23 states.

The government, in turn, wants to minimize seemingly inevitable losses, and trumpet the election as proof against accusations of autocracy in Venezuela.

“Look at our ‘dictatorship’ then: an election where most candidates are from the opposition!” Chavez ironically told Reuters, as red-shirted supporters danced around him at a rally.

With voters angry over a crushing economic crisis, polls show the opposition coalition would win handily in normal circumstances. One recent survey gave the coalition, which aspires to win 18 governorships, 44.7 percent of voter intentions versus 21.1 percent for the government.

SKEWED PLAYING FIELD?

Circumstances are far from normal in Venezuela, however, and the government has threatened to ban any candidates linked to violence in protests.

Furthermore, as in past elections during the ruling “Chavismo” movement’s 18-year grip on Venezuela, state resources are being mobilized heavily for official candidates.

Distribution of subsidized food at government rallies is commonplace, state-run companies lend transport for the events, and state media give Maduro’s candidates unfettered air-time. One opposition candidate’s brother has been arrested for alleged car theft in what the coalition says is an attempt to intimidate its ranks.

Perhaps the biggest disadvantage for the opposition is the electronic ballot sheet itself.

Despite primaries to choose a single opposition candidate per state from the plethora of parties within the Democratic Unity coalition, the pro-Maduro election board is declining to modify the ballot list to narrow it down to one name.

All initial candidates from before the primaries are listed on the ballot instead, something that could confuse opposition supporters and dilute their vote, benefiting the ruling Socialist Party’s candidates.

Further stoking opposition supporters’ skepticism, the election board is using a new vote machine provider after long-term partner Smartmatic accused it of inflating numbers in July’s controversial election of a Constituent Assembly super-body.

“OPPOSITION WANTS WAR”

On a walkabout in an unpaved shantytown on the outskirts of Barinas city, Superlano told Reuters government candidates were using helicopters to campaign while he and other opposition aspirants spent hours on the road to reach remote communities.

The government was also exploiting Venezuelans’ hunger, during a period of unprecedented scarcity, by handing out food bags in return for promises of votes, he said.

“It’s a macabre plan,” said Superlano, a lawmaker from Lopez’s Popular Will party who won the opposition primary in Barinas. “Even with all that, they are losing!”

Having dealt a hugely symbolic blow to “Chavismo” by winning five of six congress seats for Barinas in 2015 elections, the opposition now wants to end 18 years of nearly unbroken control of the governorship by Chavez family members.

While there is widespread discontent over food shortages, idle land and rising malnutrition in a fertile region that should be Venezuela’s bread basket, the government is running a rigorous campaign and painting Superlano as “the candidate of the violence” in reference to this year’s protests.

Maduro supporters say the opposition, backed by Venezuela’s elite and the U.S. government, is intent on taking power by force to seize control of the nation’s oil riches.

“They want war for Venezuela. We want peace,” said 65-year-old retiree Ramon Alvarran, proudly wearing a red T-shirt depicting the eyes of Hugo Chavez at a rally for his brother.

Elsewhere though, resentment against Maduro is palpable.

“My kids don’t have a crumb in their stomachs yet today,” said Daris Gonzalez, 36, whose three children had not eaten by lunchtime. Like many in her poor and once staunchly “Chavista” neighborhood, Gonzalez is now leaning toward the opposition.

“There has to be change. We cannot go on like this.”

Offsetting such sentiment, many young grassroots opposition supporters feel their leaders have sold out – and betrayed the memory of slain protesters – by entering an election on an unfair playing field. Abstentions could hurt their numbers.

Should the opposition triumph on Sunday, the government can limit the impact by restricting funding and taking authority away from the governors’ offices, as it has done in the past when offices have fallen to opponents.

Any overt dirty tricks, however, risk bringing more international sanctions or torpedoing an already fragile, foreign-led mediation with the opposition that Maduro needs to improve his international image.

Following the gubernatorial election, the opposition wants to shift attention to demanding a date, and guarantee of free conditions, for the 2018 presidential election to advance their ultimate goal of ending socialist rule.

“People are very angry and their anger has a face: Maduro,” said Carlos Ocariz, an opposition candidate trying to hold Miranda state for the opposition against a rising star on the government side, Hector Rodriguez.

(Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne and Francisco Aguilar; Editing by Alexandra Ulmer and Tom Brown)

Striking French workers disrupt flights, schools

French students attend a demonstration with public sector workers as part of a nationwide strike against French government reforms in Marseille, France, October 10, 2017. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier

By Ingrid Melander

PARIS (Reuters) – French public sector workers went on strike on Tuesday against President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to cull jobs and toughen pay conditions, forcing airlines to cancel hundreds of flights and disrupting school activities.

Civil servants, teachers and nurses marched through cities across France, from Toulouse in the south to Strasbourg in the east, before the day’s biggest rally in Paris.

It is the first time in a decade that all unions representing more than 5 million public workers have rallied behind a protest call.

But as the Paris rally got underway, the number of protesters appeared low. Turnout will be an important indicator of public appetite for protest against Macron’s social and economic reforms, which the former investment banker says are needed to unlock economic growth and put public finances on a more sustainable footing.

Protests last month against labor law reform that were led by private sector unions failed to persuade Macron to change policy course, but the French labor movement has traditionally been more muscular in the public sector.

“We want to make our voices heard after months and months of attacks against the public sector and its workers,” said Mylene Jacquot, head of the civil servants’ federation at the moderate CFDT, France’s biggest trade union.

“In particular, we want to force the government to make good on its promise regarding our spending power.”

Strike notices were lodged in schools, hospitals, airports and government ministries over plans to ax 120,000 jobs, freeze pay and reduce sick leave compensation.

The civil aviation authority said 30 percent of flights at airports nationwide had been canceled but there was no disruption on the rail network. The Ministry of Education said fewer than one in five teachers were on strike.

“BLOODY MESS”

Macron, 39, has come under fire in recent days from political opponents and the unions for treating workers with contempt after he was recorded describing a group of workers at a struggling factory as “kicking up a bloody mess”.

That misstep came weeks after he called those who resisted reform “slackers”.

As crowds gathered near Paris’s Place de la Republique, protesters held aloft a placard with portraits of Macron, his prime minister and finance minister reading: “The ones kicking up the bloody mess.”

Unions have been divided over Macron’s reforms so far, with only the Communist Party-rooted CGT spearheading street demonstrations against the loosening of employment laws.

In Lyon, Force Ouvriere union boss Jean-Claude Mailly said he would not support the CGT’s call for the labor law decrees to be scrapped after weeks of negotiations between government and unions. But he said there would be other battles to fight with a united front.

“There are other issues ahead: unemployment insurance, pension reform, the matter of public services,” Mailly said.

(Additional reporting by Caroline Pailliez; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

Spaniards take to streets as Catalonia independence tensions rise

People take part in a pro-union demonstration in Madrid, Spain, October 7, 2017. REUTERS/Sergio Perez

By Raquel Castillo and Sam Edwards

MADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of people gathered in Madrid and Barcelona on Saturday as Catalonia prepared to declare independence, many dressed in white and calling for talks to defuse Spain’s worst political crisis for decades.

The wealthy northeastern region of Catalonia, with its own language and culture, has long claimed to be distinct from the rest of the country and on Sunday held a referendum on leaving Spain, a vote the constitutional court had banned.

The Catalan authorities say that a majority of those who voted supported a split from Spain, something Madrid says is illegal under the country’s 1978 constitution.

The political stand-off has divided the country, pushed banks and companies to move their headquarters outside Catalonia and shaken market confidence in the Spanish economy, prompting calls from the European Commission for Catalan and Spanish leaders to find a political solution.

In protests called across 50 Spanish cities, thousands gathered dressed in white and carrying banners calling for peace and dialogue between leaders.

Meanwhile in Barcelona, protesters chanted “let’s talk” in Catalan, while many carried signs criticizing political leaders for not finding a diplomatic solution to the impasse.

“This is producing a social rupture in Catalonia and this has to be resolved through dialogue, never via unilateralism,” Jose Manuel Garcia, 61, an economist who attended the protest dressed in white said.

“I’m very worried. This will end badly and everyone will lose (without dialogue).”

While Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has said he is open to mediation, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy insists he gives up the independence campaign, which grew in strength during a near-six year economic crisis, before he will discuss the matter.

Meanwhile, in Madrid, parallel to the “Let’s talk” march, thousands gathered beneath the enormous Spanish flag in Colon Plaza waving their own flags, singing and chanting “Viva España” and “Viva Cataonia”.

“I’ve come because I feel very Spanish and makes me very sad what’s happened,” Rosa Borras, 47, an unemployed secretary who had joined a noisy gathering in central Madrid, said.

Borras, wearing a “Catalonia, we love you” sticker and surrounded by thousands waving Spanish flags, added: “I wanted to be here for unity, because I also feel very Catalan. My family lives in Catalonia.”

EU CONCERN

Rajoy’s government mobilized thousands of national police to stop Sunday’s vote, leading to clashes with would-be voters as they tried to close polling stations in schools and remove ballot boxes.

The police violence drew widespread condemnation and forced the government to issue an apology on Friday, although tensions continued to rise after reports that plans for a unilateral declaration of independence will be handed to the Catalan parliament on Tuesday.

The crisis has also caused disquiet among Spain’s European Union partners and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has discussed it with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, an EU official told Reuters. [L8N1MI08F]

Concern is growing in EU capitals about the impact of the crisis on the Spanish economy, the fourth largest in the euro zone, and on possible spillovers to other economies.

European finance ministers, gathering in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday for a regular meeting, could discuss the issue, although it is not formally on the agenda, EU officials said.

The support given in public statements by EU leaders to Rajoy is combined with concern expressed in private about how the Spanish government’s use of police to prevent Catalans from voting last week in an independence referendum could backfire.

Some EU states are worried that talk of Catalan independence could fuel secessionist feelings in other parts of Europe.

(Reporting by Raquel Castillo; Writing by Paul Day; Editing by Alexander Smith)

Spain apologizes, tone softens in Catalonia independence crisis

Tiles with the Estelada (Catalan separatist flag) are displayed on a table covered with a Catalan flag at an arts and craft market four days after the banned independence referendum, in Barcelona, Spain October 5, 2017. REUTERS/Susana Vera

By Sam Edwards and Raquel Castillo

BARCELONA/MADRID (Reuters) – Spain apologized on Friday for a violent police crackdown on Catalonia’s independence referendum, in a conciliatory gesture as both sides looked for a way out of the nation’s worst political crisis since it became a democracy four decades ago.

Spain’s representative in northeast Catalonia, which accounts for a fifth of the national economy, made the apology just as Catalonia’s secessionist leader appeared to inch away from a plan to declare independence as early as Monday.

“When I see these images, and more so when I know people have been hit, pushed and even one person who was hospitalized, I can’t help but regret it and apologize on behalf of the officers that intervened,” Enric Millo said in a television interview.

Spanish police used batons and rubber bullets to stop people voting in Sunday’s referendum, which Madrid had banned as unconstitutional. The scenes brought worldwide condemnation and fanned separatist feeling but failed to prevent what the Catalan government described as an overwhelming yes vote.

Moments earlier, a Catalan parliament spokeswoman said the regional government’s leader, Carles Puigdemont, had asked to address lawmakers on Tuesday, in timing that appeared at odds with earlier plans to move an independence motion on Monday.

Puigdemont wanted to speak on the “political situation”.

The softer tone contrasted with remarks earlier on Friday from Catalonia’s head of foreign affairs who told BBC radio it would go ahead with an independence debate in the regional parliament.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has offered all-party political talks to find a solution, opening the door to a deal giving Catalonia more autonomy. But he has ruled out independence and rejected a Catalan proposal for international mediation.

The stakes are high for the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy. Catalonia is the source of a huge chunk of its tax revenue and hosts multinationals from carmaker Volkswagen to drugs firm AstraZeneca <AZN.L>.

Secession could also fuel separatist-nationalist divisions across the rest of Spain, which only this year saw ETA guerrillas in the northern Basque region lay down their arms after a campaign lasting almost half a century.

Spanish ruling-party lawmakers say Rajoy is considering invoking the constitution to dissolve the regional parliament and force fresh Catalan elections if the region’s government goes ahead with an independence declaration.

The spokeswoman for Catalan parliament said Puigdemont would speak in the assembly next Tuesday, with parliamentary leaders to meet on Friday at 1330 GMT to decide on the exact timing.

STOCKS, BONDS SINK

The Catalan government’s head of foreign affairs, Raul Romeva, told the BBC that the crisis could only be resolved with politics, not via judicial means.

“Every threat, every menace, using the police, using … the Constitutional Court has been useless in trying to (get) people from step back away from their legitimate rights,” he said.

His remarks hit Spanish stocks and bonds, including shares in the region’s two largest banks, Caixabank <CABK.MC> and Sabadell <SABE.MC>. Sabadell decided on Thursday to move its legal base to Alicante. Caixabank <CABK.MC>, Spain’s third-largest lender, will consider on Friday whether to also transfer its legal base away from Catalonia, a source said.

The court’s suspension order further aggravated one of the biggest crises to hit Spain since the establishment of democracy on the 1975 death of General Francisco Franco.

Secessionist Catalan politicians have pledged to unilaterally declare independence at Monday’s session after staging an independence referendum last Sunday. Madrid had banned the vote and sought to thwart it by sending in riot police.

In a separate development that could raise tensions, Catalan police chief Josep Lluis Trapero appeared in Spain’s High Court on Friday to answer accusations he committed sedition by failing to enforce a court ban on holding the referendum.

Unlike national police, Catalonia’s force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, did not use force to prevent people voting. Trapero has emerged as a hero for the pro-independence movement.

Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos told Reuters in an interview on Thursday the turmoil was damaging Catalonia, an industrial and tourism powerhouse which accounts for a fifth of the national economy.

In addition, the central government on Friday passed a law to make it easier for companies to move their operations around the country just as some businesses consider leaving Catalonia, potentially dealing a blow to the region’s finances.

Opinion polls conducted before the vote suggest a minority of around 40 percent of residents in Catalonia back independence. But a majority wanted a referendum to be held, and the violent police crackdown angered Catalans across the divide.

Catalan officials released preliminary referendum results showing 90 percent support in favor of breaking away.

But turnout was only about 43 percent as Catalans who favor remaining part of Spain mainly boycotted the ballot.

(Reporting by Elisabeth O’Leary, Paul Day, Andres Gonzalez and Rodrigo de Miguel; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Hugh Lawson)

Spanish court suspends Catalan parliament session, throwing independence call in doubt

A woman reacts as National Police officers leave their hotel in Reus, south of Barcelona, Spain October 5, 2017. REUTERS/Vincent West

By Angus Berwick and Carlos Ruano

BARCELONA/MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Constitutional Court on Thursday ordered the suspension of Monday’s session of the regional Catalan parliament, throwing its plans to declare unilateral independence from Spain into doubt.

There was no immediate reaction from Catalan leaders who held an independence referendum on Sunday that was banned by Madrid and marked by violent scenes at electoral stations where Spanish police sought to hinder voting.

The suspension order further aggravated one of the biggest political crises to hit Spain since the establishment of democracy following the death of General Francisco Franco in 1975. But it helped Spanish markets hit in recent days by the uncertainty.

The court said it had agreed to consider a legal challenge filed by the anti-secessionist Catalan Socialist Party.

Spanish shares and bonds, which have been hit by the political turmoil in Catalonia, strengthened after the news of the Constitutional Court’s decision.

The main IBEX stock index rose 2.3 percent, on track for its biggest daily gain in a month, and Spain’s 10-year bond yield was set for its biggest daily fall since April.

Spain’s Economy Minister Luis de Guindos told Reuters in an interview the turmoil was damaging Catalonia.

“This is generating uncertainty that is paralyzing all investment projects in Catalonia. I’m convinced that, right now, not one international or national investor will take part in a new investment project until this is cleared up,” he said.

Spain’s fifth-largest bank, Sabadell, will consider on Thursday whether to shift its headquarters away from Catalonia in the first major sign that the wealthy region’s push for independence from Spain could scare away big business.

Caixabank, Spain’s third largest lender by market capitalization, is also considering moving its legal base outside Catalonia, a source with knowledge of the situation said. A spokesman for the bank said no decision had been taken on a move.

Opinion polls conducted before the vote suggested a minority of around 40 percent of residents in Catalonia backed independence. But a majority wanted a referendum to be held, and the violent police crackdown angered Catalans across the divide.

“GREATER EVILS”

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called on Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont on Thursday to abandon plans to unilaterally declare independence from Spain or risk “greater evils”.

In an interview with Spanish news agency EFE, Rajoy said the solution to the Catalan crisis was a prompt return to legality and “a statement as soon as possible that there will not be a unilateral declaration of independence, because that will also avoid greater evils,” Rajoy said.

He did not elaborate but ruling party lawmakers say that Rajoy, a conservative who has taken a hard line on Catalan independence, is considering the unprecedented step of dissolving the Catalan parliament and triggering regional elections.

Catalan officials released preliminary referendum results showing 90 percent support in favor of breaking away. But turnout was only about 43 percent as Catalans who favor remaining part of Spain mainly boycotted the ballot and many polling stations were closed.

Puigdemont said he was not afraid of being arrested for organizing Sunday’s banned referendum.

“Personally, I am not afraid of that,” Puigdemont said in an interview in the German daily Bild, published on Thursday, when asked about his possible arrest.

“And I’m not surprised any more about what the Spanish government is doing. My arrest is also possible, which would be a barbaric step.”

Neither the Spanish government nor the judiciary has threatened to arrest Puigdemont, though Madrid accuses him of breaking the law by ignoring a Constitutional Court ruling forbidding the referendum from going ahead.

On Wednesday, in a televised address, Puigdemont renewed his call for international mediation but said the results of the referendum would have to be applied.

Puigdemont has not explained the scope of his proposal for international mediation, whether it would envisage a compromise short of independence or deal only with divorce arrangements.

Rajoy has ruled out international mediation as a format for resolving the future of Catalonia, offering instead all-party Spanish political talks to find a solution, on the condition independence is taken off the table.

Sunday’s crackdown by Spanish police, Rajoy’s hardline stance and an uncharacteristically strong intervention this week by Spain’s King Felipe VI seems to have deepened Catalonia’s resolve to continue with the project.

“We will go as far as people want it. But without the use of force. We were always a peaceful movement. And I am sure that Spain will not be able to ignore the will of so many people,” Puigdemont told Bild.

(Additional reporting by Paul Day, Andres Gonzalez, Rodrigo de Miguel; Writing by Adrian Croft; Editing by Julien Toyer and Ralph Boulton)

Catalan leader says not afraid of arrest over independence: report

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont is seen on a TV screen at a bar during a televised statement in Barcelona, Spain, October 4, 2017. REUTERS/Yves Herman

MADRID (Reuters) – The leader of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, said he was not afraid of being arrested for organizing a banned referendum on the region’s independence from Spain, which went ahead on Sunday despite Madrid using force to try to stop people voting.

Spanish riot police used truncheons and rubber bullets on voters, drawing worldwide criticism and tipping Spain into its biggest constitutional crisis in decades.

Puigdemont’s government is to ask the regional parliament on Monday to declare independence, after his officials released preliminary referendum results showing 90 percent support in favor of breaking away.

Turnout was only about 43 percent as Catalans who favor remaining part of Spain mainly boycotted the ballot.

“Personally, I am not afraid of that,” Puigdemont said in an interview in the German daily Bild, published on Thursday, when asked about his possible arrest.

“And I’m not surprised anymore about what the Spanish government is doing. My arrest is also possible, which would be a barbaric step.”

Neither the Spanish government nor the judiciary has threatened to arrest Puigdemont, though Madrid accuses him of breaking the law by ignoring a Constitutional Court ruling forbidding the referendum from going ahead.

Puigdemont has said the referendum proved the will of the people was to leave Spain and has vowed to continue with secession, despite Madrid’s insistence it won’t happen.

On Wednesday, in a televised address, Puigdemont renewed his call for international mediation but said the results of the referendum would have to be applied. [nL8N1MF20E]

The confrontation has raised fears among investors of unrest in Catalonia, which accounts for a fifth of the Spanish economy. A former principality, the region has its own language and culture and has long complained that it pays more to Madrid in taxes than it receives each year from central funding.

The crisis in the euro zone’s fourth-biggest economy has hurt Spanish bond and stock markets. The nation’s borrowing costs hit a seven-month high on Thursday ahead of a government bond auction that will test investor confidence. [nL8N1MG0IB]

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has offered to open multi-party talks that could cut a better tax and constitutional deal for Catalonia in return for the region giving up on independence.

But his government has said the region must “return to the path of law” before negotiations can go ahead. [nL4N1MF2K8]

Sunday’s crackdown by Spanish police, Rajoy’s hardline stance and an uncharacteristically strong intervention this week by Spain’s King Felipe VI seems to have deepened Catalonia’s resolve to continue with the project.

“We will go as far as people want it. But without the use of force. We were always a peaceful movement. And I am sure that Spain will not be able to ignore the will of so many people,” Puigdemont told Bild.

Opinion polls conducted before the vote suggested a minority of around 40 percent of residents in Catalonia backed independence. But a majority wanted a referendum to be held, and the violent police crackdown angered Catalans across the divide.

(Reporting by Paul Day; Editing by Janet Lawrence)