Catalan referendum: Catalonia has ‘won right to statehood’

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Catalan leader Carles
Puigdemont says the Spanish region has won the right to statehood
following a contentious referendum that was marred by violence.

He
said the door was open to a unilateral declaration of independence
after Catalan officials said voters had backed secession with a 42.3%
turnout.

Spain’s government has warned it could suspend Catalan autonomy.

The constitutional court banned the vote and almost 900 people were hurt as police tried to stop it going ahead.

Officers from the national police and paramilitary Civil Guard seized ballot papers and boxes at polling stations.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Catalans had been fooled into taking part in an illegal vote.

More
than 2.2 million people were reported to have voted, according to
Catalan authorities, out of 5.3 million registered voters. Just under
90% of those who voted backed independence, they said.

A Catalan
spokesman said more than 750,000 votes could not be counted because
polling stations were closed and urns were confiscated.

Given the
chaotic nature of the vote, the turnout and voting figures should be
taken with a pinch of salt, says the BBC’s Tom Burridge in Barcelona.

What have Catalan and Spanish leaders said?

“With
this day of hope and suffering, the citizens of Catalonia have won the
right to an independent state in the form of a republic,” Mr Puigdemont
said in a televised address.

Image copyright
Reuters

Image caption

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont was flanked by members of his government as he made his statement

“My government in the next few days will send the
results of today’s vote to the Catalan parliament, where the sovereignty
of our people lies, so that it can act in accordance with the law of
the referendum.”

He said the European Union could no longer “continue to look the other way”.

The Spanish prime minister spoke of a “mockery” of democracy.

“At
this hour I can tell you in the strongest terms what you already know
and what we have seen throughout this day. There has not been a
referendum on self-determination in Catalonia,” Mr Rajoy said.

Spain’s
justice minister warned that any declaration of independence could lead
to article 155 of the country’s constitution being invoked which allows
the national government to intervene in the running of an autonomous
region.

“We are not here to divide Spaniards… but if someone
tries to declare independence on behalf of a part of Spain’s territory,
that cannot be done because it is beyond their powers,” said Rafael
Catalá.

SOURCE: bbc.com