AP Explains: How Spain-Catalonia standoff has evolved
From courtroom battles to noisy street demonstrations, a confrontation between the central government in Madrid and independence movements in the wealthy northeastern Catalonia region has been gripping Spain for weeks.
The conflict is due to come to a head Sunday when Catalonia intends to hold a regional ballot on whether to break away from the rest of Spain, despite government efforts to prevent the vote.
Here is a look at how the standoff has evolved:
COURTROOM COMBAT
Members of the Catalan Popular Party display Spanish flags just before abandoning the session ahead of the voting during a plenary session at the Parliament of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017. Catalan lawmakers are voting on a bill that will allow regional authorities to officially call an Oct. 1 referendum on a split from Spain, making concrete a years-long defiance of central authorities, who see the vote as illegal. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
After Catalan separatists in the region’s parliament passed a law on Sept. 6 to hold a referendum on independence, Spain’s national government said it was illegal and complained to the Constitutional Court. That court ordered the ballot put on ice while its judges deliberate on its legality. They have not ruled yet.
Previous efforts in Catalonia to vote on independence have fallen foul of the Spanish Constitution, which refers in Article 2 to “the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation, the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards.”
Catalonia regional President Carles Puigdemont, center, delivers a statement after signing the decree officially calling for the vote on a binding independence referendum, following a plenary session at the Parliament of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017. The cabinet that makes up the executive branch of Catalonia's government has unanimously endorsed a decree calling for an Oct. 1 "binding self-determination referendum" on the region's independence from Spain. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
As independence supporters defied the Constitutional Court’s decision and continued to prepare the ballot, the state prosecutor in Catalonia filed two lawsuits: one against members of the Catalan parliament for disobedience and abuse of power, and another against members of the Catalan regional government, including regional president Carles Puigdemont, for disobedience, abuse of power and embezzlement. The latter charge carries jail time.
Also, the Constitution’s Article 155 allows the government to suspend, totally or partially, Catalonia’s self-government if the region disobeys a court order.
Spanish police have so far arrested a dozen officials in Catalonia on suspicion of aiding and abetting the vote, triggering large street protests.
FOLLOW THE MONEY
In this photo taken on Sept. 24, 2017, demonstrators throw ballot papers to the people gathering in Sant Jaume square in Barcelona, Spain. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Spain’s central authorities have taken over control of virtually all Catalonia’s regional public spending. The aim: to ensure that no tax revenue is diverted to pay for the referendum.
The Spanish government has snatched away from the Catalan government the administration of its spending on health, education, social services and the payment of civil servants. Also, every invoice paid by Catalan authorities, including for non-essential services, must go to Madrid for rubber-stamping before it is paid.
A new system demands weekly public spending reports from Catalan authorities, whereas Spain’s other autonomous regions report monthly.
Tightening the screw, Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro imposed credit restrictions on Catalonia, blocking its government’s access to vital debt funding on international markets.
DEFIANT MAYORS
In this photo taken on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017, two men dressed in donkey masks and wrapped in "estelada" or pro independence flags, rest during a protest in Barcelona, Spain. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
If mayors and their municipalities are unable to help organize the ballot, the independence vote is unlikely to happen.
More than 700 of Catalonia’s about 900 mayors were placed under investigation after saying they would not be intimidated by the state prosecutor’s ban on helping prepare the referendum.
Some of them have appeared before a magistrate and refused to answer questions before being released. They potentially face a ban on holding public office.
The key figure is Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau, who wants a referendum but one that is legal and consented to by the state. Colau is a rising political star in Spain and cannot afford being barred from office. But a crucial one-fifth of the region’s voters are registered in her city.
Concerned about shielding Barcelona’s civil servants from possible prosecution, Colau initially refused to make municipal premises available as polling places. However, she later announced an agreement with the regional government to allow Barcelonans to cast their ballot. She accused Madrid-based central authorities of unprecedented bullying, saying “this is not about independence, it’s about our rights.”
THE BIG DAY
A woman holds up a mock ballot reading, ''Do you want Catalonia independence state as a republic?'' during a gathering to protest the judicial and police operation against the planned October 1 independence referendum in Catalonia, at Plaza del Ayuntamiento square in Pamplona, northern Spain, Friday, Sept. 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)
Amid so much legal and economic pressure from Madrid, it’s unclear how Catalan authorities will be able to hold the referendum. Whichever way the pro-independence movement has turned, the central government has pounced to block it.
Police confiscated about 10 million ballot papers as well as around 1.3 million posters advertising the referendum. A court order shut down the referendum’s official website, though minutes later the content was replicated through servers overseas.
Ballot boxes and electoral officers will also be needed. The pro-independence movement isn’t saying where they will be coming from.
Meanwhile, authorities hired three ferry vessels to accommodate nearly 5,000 additional police deployed to Catalonia for the vote. The Spanish and Catalan governments are still wrestling over who gives orders to the 17,000-strong regional police force.
In this photo taken on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017, people gesture and shout slogans during a protest in Barcelona, Spain. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
A girl pastes a banner on a wall calling for voting on a planned independence referendum in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
In this photo taken on Sunday Sept. 10, 2017, people demonstrate carrying "esteladas" or independence flags ahead of the Catalan National Day in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday Sept. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
In this photo taken on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017, a pro-independence supporter holds publicity calling for voting Yes on a planned independence referendum in the Catalonia region, during a demonstration in Barcelona, Spain. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
In this photo taken on Monday Sept. 11, 2017, people wave "estelada" or independence flags, during the Catalan National Day in Barcelona, Spain, Monday Sept. 11, 2017. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Right wing demonstrators light flares during a protest against the Oct. 1 referendum vote in Barcelona, Spain Friday, Sept. 22, 2017. Dozens of anti independence people demonstrate waving Spanish flags and shouting slogans against the Oct.1 vote in front of Catalan National Assembly ANC, an organization that seeks the political independence of Catalonia from Spain. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
In this photo taken on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017, a youth waits for customers to kick a soccer ball at some skittles in a street fair decorated with Catalan and Spanish flags in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
In this photo taken on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017, people sleep on the ground covered with the "estelada" or independence flags, during a protest in Barcelona, Spain. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Guardia Civil officers stand guard next to flowers dropped by pro-independence demonstrators outside the headquarters of the region's department of External Affairs in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. Spanish police arrested 12 people Wednesday in raids on offices of the regional government of Catalonia, news reports said, intensifying a crackdown on the region's preparations for a secession vote that Spain says is illegal. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
In this photo taken on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017, pro-independence demonstrators hold "esteladas" or independence flags as right wing demonstrators wave Spanish flags, at the background, during a protest in Barcelona, Spain Friday, Sept. 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Pro independence supporters wave "estelada" or pro independence flags with Basque flags or Ikurrina during a rally in support for the secession of the Catalonia region from Spain, in Bilbao, northern Spain, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. Last week, Spain's constitutional court decided to suspend an independence referendum that Catalan leaders had penciled in for Oct. 1 while judges decide if it is unconstitutional. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)
In this photo taken on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, a Spanish national police officer tries to stop demonstrators protesting outside the main offices of the left wing party CUP in Barcelona, Spain. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
A woman enters in a Barcelona's metro station wrapped with an "estelada" or independence flag, during the Catalan National Day in Barcelona, Spain, on Monday, Sept. 11, 2017. Hundreds of thousands are expected to rally in Barcelona to show support for an independent Catalan nation and the right to vote in a controversial referendum that has been banned by Spain. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios)
Text from the AP news story, AP Explains: How Spain-Catalonia standoff has evolved.