Catalonia referendum: ANGER grows as Eurocrat defends violent police crackdown

The top Eurocrat was slammed for defending Madrid’s brutal response to the Catalonia independence referendum.

Speaking during the European Parliament plenary, Mr Timmermans said: “It is a duty for any government to uphold the rule of law, and this sometimes requires the proportionate use of force.

“Respect for the rule of law is not optional – it’s fundamental. If the law does not give you what you want, you can oppose the law, you can work to change the law, but you cannot ignore the law.”

But Mr Timmermans’ comments sparked a harsh response from several EU figures such as MEP Helga Stevens.

The Belgian politician reacted to the EU Commission First Vice-President’s speech on Twitter: “How can Catalans have constitution & laws changed when they form minority in Spain? Ever thought of that @TimmermansEU?”

Aleix Sarri Camargo, advisor to the ALDE group’s economic coordinator Ramon Tremosa, wrote: “Ignorant speech on Catalonia @TimmermansEU. You just gave the green light to more repression in Spain. The Catalan people will never forget.”

Footage from Catalonia showed members of the Spanish Guardia Civil heavy-handedly seizing ballot boxes throughout the region.

Madrid, which deemed the referendum illegal, deployed hundreds of officers in a last desperate attempt to stop the ballot from going ahead. 

 

The brutal police crackdown left 893 people injured, as officers armed in riot-gear stormed polling stations, fired rubber bullets and pulled women by their hair. 

Matt Carthy, an MEP from Ireland, said the EU should be ashamed of its response and had this violence happened in another part of the world, the bloc leaders would have been among the first to condemn the unrest.

“The response from the European Union has been pathetic. It is quite clear to me that democracy took a big hit, but so too in the intervening hours has the credibility of the European Union itself, because this is to my mind a great threat to democracy. 

The leader of the Catalan Government Carles Puidgemont said regional institutions would “implement” the results over the “next few days.”

He said: “In the next few days, we will show our best face when the Catalonian institutions will implement the results of this referendum.

“We don’t want it here or elsewhere. We insist on dignity and we are capable of engaging those proposals.”

Mr Puigdemont added the Spanish Prime Minister’s policies had been “catastrophic” for Catalonia. 

Despite having accepted autonomy within the Spanish Republic in 1931, Catalonia has a long-established history of dissent towards Spanish rule.

Many believe that Catalonia puts more into Spain than it gets out, with support for independence growing during the country’s economic crisis.

Last year Catalan accounted for 19 per cent of the nation’s GDP, despite forming 16 per cent of its population.

Its 2016 output was €212 billion, similar to the economies of Finland and Portugal.