Catalans vote to split from Spain amid violent police crackdown

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[video=youtube;SHXRjcEp514]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHXRjcEp514[/video]

 

[Blu82]

So during my recent international travels I met some Catalans and queried about their complicated situation. To say that they felt very strongly about independence is an understatement and they kept on referring to their exiled leader in Belgium as the real president.

 

[f2wohf]

So during my recent international travels I met some Catalans and queried about their complicated situation. To say that they felt very strongly about independence is an understatement and they kept on referring to their exiled leader in Belgium as the real president.

So you basically met separatists. Did you meet people from the other side?

 

[Blu82]

So you basically met separatists. Did you meet people from the other side?

No since this was in the boarding queue for an A380.

 

[f2wohf]

With 30% of the votes counted, the separatists do NOT have the majority.

Who was saying they are the majority again?

 

[Hamish McPanji]

With 90% counted, they seem to have a slim majority

 

[f2wohf]

With 90% counted, they seem to have a slim majority

They have a slim majority in seats, because of the ward system. But in number of votes it’s 52.1% against, which means that should there be a referendum, they would be under 50%.

 

[f2wohf]

Bunch of crooks again.

The ex treasurer of PdeCat (ex CDC) and now JuntsxCat is sentenced to 7 1/2 years of jail and the founder of the Palau (a foundation for the support of Barcelona's Palace of Music) is condemned to 9 years and 8 months of jail. The party must repay 6.6 million euros to the local government.

Artur Mas (head of the party) resigned last week, probably because of this case. Puigdemont remains chair.

Ferrovial, a major construction company, was paying 4% of each public tender obtained in Catalonia to the Palau, the ex treasurer and the founder of Palau were sharing personnally 1.5% and 2.5% was sent to the party.

6.6 million euros have been sent to the party this way but the prosecutors estimate that it could have been up to 23 million euros.

They have been caught randomly in 2009 when a prosecutor was investigating the abundance of 500 euro notes deposited and withdrawn by the Palau, it then derived into an investigation for illegal funding of political parties.

Ferrovial obtained two major tenders during this period, the construction of new provincial court rooms of Catalonia and the line 9 of Barcelona's subway. It was disguising the bribes into donations to the foundation.

https://elpais.com/ccaa/2018/01/15/catalunya/1516001673_733428.html

 

[f2wohf]

Puigdemont has been arrested in Germany after a tip from the Spanish secret services.

His extradition to Spain should be debated in court today.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/25/world/europe/germany-carles-puigdemont.html

 

[Polymathic]

Rajoy forced out as Spain's Prime Minister in confidence vote

panish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was toppled by a corruption scandal Friday, becoming the first leader in Spain's modern democracy to lose a vote of no confidence in Parliament.

The demise of Rajoy -- one of Europe's longest-serving political leaders -- paves the way for Pedro Sánchez, the leader of the main opposition socialist party, to become Prime Minister.
Friday's vote in Madrid was the culmination of years of corruption allegations against Rajoy's Popular Party. The scandal came to a head last week when a court convicted his former aides of running slush funds to help finance Popular Party election campaigns, prompting Sánchez to file the confidence motion.
The fall of Rajoy's government comes at a time of wider political turmoil in Europe. Two populist parties in Italy have just reached an agreement to form a coalition government after months of wrangling, Brexit dominates UK politics and the European Union must now contend with a looming trade war with the US.
Spain's political tumult is born of a long-running corruption scandal coupled with internal division. Although still feeling the effects of the global economic crisis, Spain's economy is performing better than that of Italy, and anti-European sentiment played no part in its change of government.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/01/europe/spain-rajoy-confidence-vote-sanchez-intl/index.html

 

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Source: Spain’s new leader is sworn in, faces Catalan conundrum

Less than two hours after Sanchez had taken his oath to uphold the Spanish Constitution, Catalan chief Quim Torra demanded to meet with Sanchez and speak “government to government” regarding the future of the wealthy yet restive northeastern region.

“Pedro Sanchez, let us talk, take risks, both you and I. Let us sit down at a table and talk, government to government,” Torra said after swearing in his regional Cabinet in Barcelona on Saturday.

 

[schumi]

Nearly 200 injured in Catalonia protests on Saturday: emergency services

Barcelona was bracing for fresh violence on Saturday after nearly 200 people were hurt in a night of clashes with radical separatists hurling rocks and fireworks at police. A radical movement of young separatists, Arran, called for a new demonstration "against repression" for 1600 GMT in central Barcelona. The Catalan capital resembled a chaotic battleground Friday, the fifth consecutive day of protests over a Spanish court's jailing of nine separatist leaders on sedition charges over a failed independence bid two years ago. Emergency services said Saturday that 152 people had been injured in overnight clashes in Barcelona, with dozens more hurt in the rest of Catalonia, taking the total to 182.

More at : https://www.thelocal.es/20191019/nearly-200-people-injured-in-barcelona-clashes-emergency-services