Catalonia to be LAWLESS: Region’s police will NOT follow Rajoy’s demands

The north east region’s government, based in Barcelona, said it was confident officials, including the police – Mossos d’Esquadra – would defy attempts to enforce direct rule on the semi-autonomous region, should Article 155 of the constitution be activated.

Any refusal to carry out the wishes of Madrid could lead to unrest in the region, which as hinted at civil disobedience towards the Spanish government as it continues to crackdown on Catalonia over its independence referendum carried out on October 1.

Catalonia went ahead with the vote despite Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, backed by the Constitutional Court, deeming the vote illegal and attempting to halt the referendum with both the Guardia Civil and the national police using brutal methods to stop people from voting.

But leaders of the secessionist campaign said the referendum, in which 43 per cent of the electorate voted, gave them a mandate to claim independence from the rest of Spain.

Catalonia’s foreign affairs chief Raul Romeva told BBC radio: ”It’s not that we will refuse (orders). It is not a personal decision. It is a seven million-person decision.”

Mr Romeva was asked whether he believed all institutions, including the police, would follow orders from Catalan institutions rather than obey the Spanish government.

He said: ”And from that perspective, I have no doubt that all civil servants in Catalonia will keep following the instructions provided by the elected and legitimate institutions that we have right now in place (in Catalonia).”

Catalan authorities said about 90 per cent of those who took part in the referendum voted for independence.

But only 43 per cent of the electorate and one in three Catalans participated, with most opponents of secession staying at home.

In addition, some elderly Catalans were too frightened to attempt to vote due to the actions of the security forces which used batons and rubber bullets to stop voting and seize ballot boxes.

Potentially thousands of people were prevented from voting simply because polling stations were forcibly closed by the security forces.

The crisis over the wealthy Catalan region has raised fears among European countries of a spillover to other parts of the continent.

Two wealthy regions of northern Italy voted overwhelmingly on Sunday for greater autonomy, though those referendums were held in line with the constitution and were not binding on Rome. Separatists are active in Belgium’s Flanders region, and France’s Corsica has long been home to a secessionist movement.

At a European Union summit last week, Brussels leaders backed Spain and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and described the secession bid as a domestic issue.

Civil disobedience was also backed by the far-left party CUP, a key support for Catalonia’s pro-independence minority government in the regional parliament, which has called Madrid’s actions an aggression against all Catalans.

The CUP said in a statement: ”An aggression which will be met with massive civil disobedience.”

Several hundred Catalan municipalities said they were against direct rule from Madrid and asked the Catalan parliament to vote on a motion rejecting it.

Some teachers and firemen also said they would not recognise Spain’s authority.

The teachers’ union USTEC said: ”We will not recognise as valid interlocutors those people who are not representatives of popular legitimacy.

“We will be where we should be in this moment: with the Catalan institutions and with democracy as it fights for its survival.”

Spain has said it would remove top Catalan officials if they did not comply with orders but it has remained vague on how it plans to implement direct rule if lower ranking civil servants decide not to follow instructions.

Foreign minister Alfonso Dastis said the central government was not planning any arrests.

Around 4,000 national police who had been shipped in for the referendum have remained in Catalonia.

This comes on top of 5,000 state police already based in the region.

They usually act as a back-up to Catalonia’s own 17,000-strong police force though they have also been seen reinforcing security at some official buildings in Catalonia’s capital Barcelona.