The King of Spain lashed out at Catalan authorities on Tuesday evening after hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Catalonia to vent their fury over the violent police crackdown on Sunday’s contested independence referendum.
In a rare televised statement, King Felipe said the referendum’s organizers had jeopardized national stability. “With their decisions, they have systematically undermined the rules approved legally and legitimately, showing an unacceptable disloyalty towards the powers of the state — a state that represents Catalan interests,” he said.
King Felipe’s hardline address was an unusual departure for the Spanish monarch, who used the majority of his speech to castigate Catalan leaders while making no reference to polling day violence that left nearly 900 people injured. He concluded the address with a call for national unity, while continuing to unleash a verbal assault on the Catalan authorities.
“Today Spanish society is fractured and confronted. Those authorities have underestimated the fondness and feelings of solidarity that have united and will unite the whole of the Spanish population, and with their irresponsible attitude they have put the economic and social stability of Catalonia and Spain at risk,” he said.
On Tuesday night Catalonia’s leader, Carles Puigdemont, told the BBC in an interview that his government would unilaterally declare independence by “the end of this week or the beginning of next.”
If Puigdemont follows through on the promise in the interview, recorded before the king’s address, it would further deepen the constitutional crisis facing Spain.
King Felipe’s decision to intervene in the crisis came after 700,000 people gathered in Barcelona, according to City Police, angered by the harsh treatment meted out by national forces who tried to prevent the banned vote from taking place.
Many demonstrated in front of the Barcelona headquarters of the Spanish national police.
Shops were closed, universities halted classes and transport companies ran reduced services as supporters of Catalonia’s bid for independence from Spain attempted to maintain the momentum from Sunday’s vote.
Facing Spain’s biggest political crisis in decades,Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy held talks with opposition parties in Madrid.
Spanish authorities have ordered members of the Guardia Civil, the national security force deployed to Catalonia to block the referendum, to remain on standby in the region for the next week.
‘The streets will always be ours’
Protesters gathering in Barcelona said they were motivated by fury at Sunday’s violent crackdown — the Catalan health ministry said 893 people were injured as riot police raided polling stations, dragged away voters and fired rubber bullets.
“This is a protest against police violence and maintaining momentum after Sunday,” said Victor Noguer, 27, a firefighter.
“The streets will always be ours,” protesters chanted, some of them draped in the blue, yellow and red Estelada flag used by Catalan separatists.
Officers from the Guardia Civil and the Catalan police force stood guard outside the local headquarters of the
Spanish government in Barcelona, where hundreds of firefighters gathered. Other groups of protesters gathered outside the headquarters of the national police, shouting “Spanish police get out!”
In an interview with CNN at a police control center in the city, Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau condemned Rajoy’s decision to deploy national security forces as “seriously irresponsible.”
“Why is he throwing thousands of police officers against the population,” asked Colau, who does not support Catalan independence but was in favor of holding the referendum. “Why is he keeping thousands of police officers on standby in the city of Barcelona and in Catalonia? What is the message of fear he wants to send?”
