Catalan President Quim Torra encourages radicals and shuts off chances of dialogue with the Spanish government by displaying any support for widespread violent protests in Catalonia, Esther Niubo, a member of the Socialist Group in the Catalan Parliament, told Sputnik on Tuesday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd October, 2018) Catalan President Quim Torra encourages radicals and shuts off chances of dialogue with the Spanish government by displaying any support for widespread violent protests in Catalonia, Esther Niubo, a member of the Socialist Group in the Catalan Parliament, told Sputnik on Tuesday.
In commemoration of Catalonia holding the independence referendum on October 1, 2017, around 183,000 people participated in protests and rioted in Barcelona and Girona. The Committees for the Defense of the Republic (CDR), a network of local, regional and national-level pro-Catalan independence assemblies, interrupted high-speed railway traffic from Girona to France and blocked the AP-7 motorway, as well as several streets in Barcelona and Llieda. Torra expressed his gratitude for the CDR's actions to "up the pressure."
"Protests yesterday in Catalonia are the result of the inability of the Government of Catalonia to articulate a discourse built from reality. Catalan politics has to return to the Parliament. President Torra must fulfill his responsibilities and not put at risk the way of dialogue lead by PM Pedro Sanchez by encouraging radicals to besiege the institutions that represent all Catalans," Niubo said.
Niubo stated that Torra's support for the CDR was an irresponsible act considering his position.
"President Torra committed a monumental political error yesterday, by acting irresponsible instead of being the person in charge of the Catalan Government. A president can never encourage protests if he does not know how to respond afterwards," Niubo said.
On October 1, 2017, the northeastern Spanish region held an independence referendum, which resulted in 90 percent of voters supporting Catalonia's secession from Spain. On October 27, 2017, the Catalan government proclaimed the region's independence, but the central Spanish government responded by imposing direct governance over Catalonia just one day later, refusing to accept the vote.
