Spain’s constitutional court suspends independence session of Catalan parliament

The club has offered to mediate in the conflict between the Spanish government and Catalonia concerning Catalonia’s independence referendum.

More than 900 people were injured on Sunday after Spanish police attempted to halt the independence referendum by raiding polling stations, beating voters and firing rubber bullets at crowds.

On Wednesday, he said he would not move that date forward despite recent events because it would give satisfaction to those who “whistle and insult”.

Timmermans also said “it is fundamental that the constitution of every one of our member states are upheld and respected”.

The Catalans seem more and more determined to separate, and Madrid is increasingly reluctant to do so. “All lines of communication must stay open”.

Voting took place on October 1 and resulted in clashes between protesters and riot police in the region, with Spain’s national government adamant that the referendum was unconstitutional and illegal.

The European Parliament is set to debate the crisis in Catalonia on Wednesday amid mounting criticism of a deafening silence in Brussels. By remaining in Spain, the banks would remain under the umbrella of the European Central Bank.

Ninety percent of voters backed independence in the referendum with turnout just over 42 percent, according to Catalan authorities. However, it warned Catalonia that if it declared independence it would find itself outside the EU.

Speaking in a video on the club’s official website, he called for “dialogue” and for “the wish of the majority of the Catalan people to decide on their future”.

Malta’s foreign minister Carmelo Abela has condemned the violence in the Catalonia region of Spain, in a police crackdown triggered by the illegal independence referendum held on Sunday in the region.

Neither the Spanish government nor the judiciary has threatened to arrest Mr Puigdemont, though Madrid accuses him of breaking the law by ignoring a Constitutional Court ruling forbidding the referendum from going ahead. Gerard Pique threatens to retire from Spain’s national team if anyone deems his support for Catalonian independence disruptive.

A board meeting scheduled for 3pm GMT on Thursday and a possible shift of domicile “is one of the subjects that will be discussed and will be decided”, a Sabadell spokesperson said. The Catalan government’s representative in Brussels Amadeu Altafaj says that if the EU is not able to protect 7.5 million of its citizens from violence and repression, “it will fail not only to them but to the whole Union”.

The Spanish Constitutional Court has suspended Next Monday’s session of the Catalan parliament in an attempt to to prevent Catalonia’s bid for independence.