Madrid (October 21, 2017): The Spanish government said on Thursday that it would begin the process to impose direct rule on Catalonia in an unprecedented move to crush the region’s independence bid.
In a statement from Madrid, the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said it would invoke Article 155 of the constitution, a provision that allows the central government to suspend the autonomy of the Catalan regional administration.
Rajoy’s Cabinet will meet on Saturday to agree measures to “restore the constitutional order” in Catalonia, where a banned referendum on independence took place earlier this month. The plan will then be put before the Senate, where Rajoy’s Popular Party has a majority, for approval.
The announcement came minutes after Catalan President Carles Puigdemont threatened that the region could formally declare independence if the Spanish government did not engage in dialogue.
Puigdemont also demanded Spain end its “repression” of Catalan separatist leaders, in a letter sent shortly before a Madrid-imposed deadline for the region to drop its independence bid. Two leaders of the Catalan independence movement were taken into custody on suspicion of sedition earlier this week.
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