Catalan leader says he doesn't want a "traumatic" separation from Spain.
Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said on Monday that he is not seeking a "traumatic" separation from Spain, but a new understanding, a day after hundreds of people were injured as police tried to forcibly prevent an independence referendum from taking place. Puigdemont said the vote, which attracted millions of defiant voters despite Spain's Constitutional Court declaring it illegal, was valid and binding and that "we have to implement it."
MADRID (Reuters) - Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said on Monday that he is not seeking a "traumatic" separation from Spain, but a new understanding, a day after hundreds of people were injured as police tried to forcibly prevent an independence referendum from taking place.
Sunday's events in the autonomous region dramatically raised the temperature of a growing crisis between Madrid and Barcelona and made it even more difficult for the two sides to meet and try to reach a political compromise.
Puigdemont said the vote, which attracted millions of defiant voters despite Spain's Constitutional Court declaring it illegal, was valid and binding and that "we have to implement it."
But he also stated in a press conference: "We don't want a traumatic separation... we want a new understanding with the Spanish State."
The Catalan leader said he had not had any contact with the Spanish central government and that he had asked the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, to say whether he agrees to mediation of talks on the region's future, to be overseen by the European Union.
He added that the final result will probably not be presented to Parliament on Monday or Tuesday.
The central government in Madrid deployed thousands of police officers to try to prevent the referendum, and on voting day, riot police units used batons and aggressive tactics that drew criticism worldwide. Regional authorities said nearly 900 people were injured.
Puigdemont's comments represented a new challenge for Rajoy, who holds the constitutional power to dismiss the regional government and subject Catalonia to central control until new elections are held.
This would further increase tensions in the region of 7,5 million inhabitants, with its own language and culture, and could jeopardize Spain's economic recovery.
Puigdemont called an emergency meeting of the Catalan regional government and said that Catalonia will create a commission to investigate allegations of abuse by the Spanish police.
In Madrid, Rajoy plans to coordinate the next steps in a meeting with Pedro Sánchez, leader of the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).