Catalonia Declares Independence; Spain Approves Central Takeover Of Region (npr.org)

Readers share a report: Lawmakers in Catalonia have declared independence from Spain in a historic vote that prompted protests and celebration. The government in Madrid, vowing to halt any would-be secession, has authorized the Spanish prime minister to take over direct rule of the previously semi-autonomous region. The vote in the Catalan Parliament comes nearly a month after the region held a referendum on independence, over Spain's objections. The regional president then declared his support for separation from Spain but also called for talks with Madrid, in an ambiguous speech. Spain's central government, promising to crack down harshly if the declaration was real, told the region's leaders to make up their mind: Yes or no? Independence or not? Now it's final: Independence, Catalonia said.

Comments

Re:Support Right to Independence

[luca]

Sure, we all saw how well the EU "protection" worked in, e.g., Greece (or everywhere else).

Spanish Civil War, part 2

[jfdavis668]

Many of the driving forces involved were the same ones that started the Civil War in 1936. Just without the fascists this time.

Re:nasty situation

[jez9999]

While I generally support self determination for geographic regions the law in Spain does seem to make the declaration of independence illegal.

Could someone explain this one to me? So you support independence unless the mother country passes a law declaring it illegal lol. Not exactly difficult for the mother country to do that, is it? In fact almost all countries have laws against secession. The Scottish referendum was an oddity (and frankly I still don't know why Cameron even allowed it).