Over these past few days, protests have erupted in the Spanish city of Barcelona in regards to an ongoing fight for an independent Catalan state within the kingdom of Spain. The latest outrage stems from the incarceration by the Spanish Supreme Court of nine Catalan leaders who were sentenced for fueling the present pro-independent sentiment in the Spanish region of Catalonia.
The current situation in Hong Kong has been in the news ever since the activists there filled Hong Kong’s international airport, forcing many flights to be canceled or delayed. Spain, at the rate at which the tension is building up in the streets, is not far from that.
Nearly one decade ago, the terrorist group ETA, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, was exterminated. The group operated in the Basque country region in Spain. Initially, when they were formed in 1959 in the city of Bilbao, their main targets were political opponents. However, that escalated and they began conducting terrorist attacks aimed at civilians. Their last attack took place in the year 2006 at the Madrid-Barajas International Airport, and killed two people.
However, ETA had long been associated with Irish terror group Irish Republican Army, IRA, which resurfaced earlier this year after a long-term hiatus. In fact, during one of their attacks, they killed a journalist who was just trying to inform the general public about what was going on. Barcelona is not far from that as great damage was caused during the latest clashes involving protestors and law enforcement officers.
Barcelona’s pro-independence political party Junts Pel Si, Together for the Yes, was formed in 2015 as a result of a minority sentiment towards the Catalan region’s independence from the kingdom of Spain. Currently, almost half of the Catalan population supports the ideology. The movement has vowed in any way possible, even illegally, to gain the independent recognition that they seek. It got to a point where they wanted to lump the Balearic Islands and Valencia into their pro-independence proposal.
Campaigns have included holding illegal elections in the streets, recognizing Catalonia as a separate state on certain websites or restricting the schools’ language requirement to only Catalan, therefore removing Spanish from the curriculum.
It has now been two years since the controversial referendum held in the Catalan streets, where no data was recorded as to who voted, giving pro-independence supporters a chance to vote more than once. Immediately after that referendum, the 155th article of the Spanish Constitution was enforced to its full extent, forbidding Catalans to take any action what so ever, making it Spain’s biggest political crisis since the democracy restoration back in 1975, when long-term dictator Francisco Franco passed away. Under the 1978 Constitution, the first one after the passing of Franco, the Catalan region was granted autonomous status.
Maybe the Catalan people should take Brexit as an example and back down in their pro-independence movement and riots. While the ability to think and vote freely should not be an issue, doing so peacefully should also be the aim of the Catalan people, and not putting other peaceful civilians’ lives at risk.
Photo from WikiMedia Commons
