Investment Watch Blog (IWB)
October 21, 2017
Tess
The Spanish government has applied Article 155 of its constitution to Catalonia to strip it of its powers,
after it blasted the region’s leader for trying to “impose his will” on Spain and declare independence.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s Cabinet met this morning to agree to roll out hardline rules to penalise the
breakaway region and impose direct rule.
Tens of thousands have taken to the streets of Barcelona in a huge protest, as the Catalan crisis deepens.
Activists waved the Catalonian independence flag, as tempers boiled over, after the Spanish Prime Minister
said, he wanted to dissolve Catalonia’s government.
It had earlier emerged, that the region’s top politician could face arrest, if he declares independence and
Madrid now plans to hold Catalan regional elections in January.
The moves come, after regional President Carles Puigdemont threatened to go forward with Catalan independence,
which has incensed Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
Mr Puigdemont joined the protests in the region’s capital following today’s bombshell, which was met with
furious banging of pots and pans and car horns sounding.
Rajoy said after a cabinet meeting, that the central government needs to take the unprecedented step of
assuming control of Catalonia to ”restore order” in the face of a secession effort backed by the regional
government.