"Everything is all set for Nov. 9," says a senior Catalan regional government official as the region prepares to defy both the central government and the country's highest court and proceed with a much-disputed weekend vote on whether to secede from Spain. And while the Spanish government has not specified what legal consequences Catalan leaders, poll workers or voters might face Sunday, when they go to vote, The LA Times reports [4] that Madrid has reportedly readied thousands of Civil Guard police officers to travel to Catalonia this weekend if needed.
[5]
Spain's northeastern region of Catalonia vowed Tuesday to defy both the central government and the country's highest court and proceed with a much-disputed weekend vote on whether to secede from Spain.
Hours earlier, Spain's Constitutional Court ordered Catalonia to freeze its plans for an independence vote, scheduled for Sunday. It was the second time the court issued an order siding with Madrid, which considers any Catalan independence vote illegal.
But Catalan leaders said they would not back down.'
"Everything is all set for Nov. 9," Francesc Homs, a spokesman for the Catalan regional government, said at a news conference. "We are maintaining our participatory process. We couldn’t say this any clearer -- and we’re doing so regardless of the consequences."
[6]
Homs said the Catalan government would use the Constitutional Court to sue the central government "for threatening the right ... to freedom of speech."
The Spanish government has not specified what legal consequences Catalan leaders, poll workers or voters might face Sunday, when they go to vote. But Madrid has reportedly readied thousands of Civil Guard police officers to travel to Catalonia this weekend if needed.
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And sure enough, the convoys are rolling [7]
Preocupant presència de combois militars a les carreteres catalanes dies abans del #9N [8] #VolemVotar [9] #SíSí [10] #intimidació [11] pic.twitter.com/lHT2HGA2jn [12]
— Llibertat.cat (@Llibertatcat) November 5, 2014 [13]
The presence of military convoys on the roads in Catalonia, specifically cars Pizarro has been steady throughout the day. Have been military convoys on the roads to Lleida and Zaragoza from, but also Panadella and Low Llobreta and Diagonal.
[14]
Remember a few days ago several military helicopters flew some Catalan regions : namely a group of six of these distinctive military helicopters were seen in the Vallès Oriental Vallès Occidental and in different parts of the metropolitan area of Barcelona, ??to Llobregat and Alt Camp.
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So French youth are revolting, Bulagria's poor are self-immolating, Spain now has a neo-Nazi party... and now the military are required to control the population... sounds like 'recovery' to us.
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As Mike Krieger concluded previously [15]:
On a more serious note, Americans need to understand that Spain is merely a few years ahead of us. The question isn’t whether the status quo will be overthrown, the question is what will replace it. Something better, or something worse? Our key mission must be to ensure we get a better system after this one blows up, not something even worse.
Watch Spain closely in the months ahead. It will be another canary in the coal mine for the entire Western world.
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We leave it to this Twitter user to sum it up:
@zerohedge [16] we, catalan people, only want to vote to see what we want to be! Asking people should never be banned! Spain is not a democracy
— 9Núria (@nuriabg6) November 5, 2014 [17]
