Catalan leader condemns violence, calls for meeting with Spain’s PM

Catalan premier Quim Torra made a public appearance yesterday during which he applauded last week’s demonstrations against the sentencing of nine separatist leaders to prison over the 2017 unilateral breakaway bid.

Torra also condemned the acts of violence that took place, and insisted on meeting with Spain’s acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to hold “a dialogue without any conditions,” and requested a parliamentary inquiry into the actions of the regional police force during clashes with protestors.

Speaking at the headquarters of the Catalan government, Torra also celebrated the fact that the three separatist parties in the regional parliament yesterday reached an agreement defending renewed institutional support for self-determination.

Torra said that he had again tried to phone Spain’s acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez of the Socialist Party (PSOE), but that he had again refused to speak to him.

On October 16, the Constitutional Court warned Torra and the speaker of the Catalan parliament, Roger Torrent, that there could be criminal consequences if the chamber disobeys the court’s earlier suspension of a parliamentary resolution that insisted on the right to self-determination and independence for Catalonia.

Torrent said yesterday that he and other parliamentary officials are aware of what’s at stake. “We will accept all judicial and personal consequences derived from defending that the Catalan parliament may speak about anything,” he said.

Written by BayRadio