A year after threatening the unity of Spain with an attempt to declare independence, former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont launched a new party on Saturday, as he tries to rally separatists from his base in Belgium.
The new group, named “The Call,” held a founding congress on Saturday evening, marking the one-year anniversary of the secession push, but it has struggled to attract a groundswell of support, with some allies languishing in Spanish jails and others choosing a more moderate political path.
The meeting of Puigdemont’s new party was held in the pro-independence town of Manresa, in the center of Catalonia, near the prison where independence leaders are being held.
“A year ago we decided that we would continue the fight, whatever the conditions and circumstances, and that we would commit ourselves to building a better country, a republic,” Puigdemont said in Brussels of the new party.
In a speech relayed on a giant screen to his supporters, he alluded to divisions within the separatist camp, insisting on “moving forward united” rather than apportioning blame.
MODERATES
However, many of his former allies who have adopted more moderate and pragmatic positions have refused to join the new party.
Catalan President Quim Torra, in a somber televised address to mark the Oct. 27, last year declaration of independence, said “the year that separates us from this historic date did not unfold as we wished,” but added that “turning back is not an option.”
The independence declaration threw Spain into political turmoil, with the central government ousting Puigdemont, who then fled to Belgium, dissolving parliament and imposing direct control over the wealthy northeastern region.
Snap polls in December last year saw separatist parties once again win an absolute majority in the regional parliament.
However, Torra, who regularly seeks counsel from Puigdemont, presides over a Catalan government divided between those who back disobedience to advance the cause of independence and those who favor dialogue with new Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
The trial of 18 former Catalan leaders over their role in the separatist push, expected to start early next year, helps to keep the separatist camp mobilized.
‘BITTERSWEET’
Several dozen activists from the powerful grassroots separatist organization ANC, which has previously staged massive pro-independence street protests in Barcelona, gathered at the city’s regional administration offices in the rain to demand the official publication of the independence declaration.
“This anniversary is quite bittersweet, a day of great hope that did not materialize,” ANC president Elisenda Paluzie said.
Later, more radical elements rallied in front of the regional government building, berating Torra for his cautious approach, but their numbers never swelled beyond 200.
They chanted: “One year of relinquishment, one year of submission, that is enough.”
Madrid continues to refuse to allow any referendum on self-rule in Catalonia, despite Sanchez’s reliance on Catalan separatist parties to pass legislation.
This has helped further fracture the independence movement.
Puigdemont is due to present a “Council of the Republic” — a sort of Catalan government-in-exile in Belgium — in the coming days aiming to rally support for a continued independence push.
“We are not talking about a dream, we are talking about a reality, we are talking about the Catalan Republic,” a TV clip for the new party says.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including