Spain Constitutional Court blocks Catalonia parliamentary session on independence News
Spain Constitutional Court blocks Catalonia parliamentary session on independence

Spain’s Constitutional Court [official website] on Thursday ordered the suspension of Catalonia’s planned parliamentary session on independence next week warning Catalan parliament speaker Carme Forcadell and other members of his speakers’ board that they will be subject to prosecution if they proceeded with the session.

There was no immediate reaction from Catalan leaders, but Catalan’s local officials have previously ignored the Constitutional Court’s orders and the leaders even held an independence referendum on Sunday, which was interrupted by Spanish police attempting to hinder voting, ultimately leading to violent clashes.

After Catalonia separatist leader, Carles Puigdemont [BBC profile], declared that the results of the vote on Sunday’s independence referendum is a testament that Catalonia has won the right to independence [JURIST report], Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy [Britannica profile] urged Puigdemont to cancel plans for declaring independence. However, Puigdemont has remained steadfast in his plans to declare secession next week, although he has agreed to mediating the conflict. While hopes for a mediation are gaining some momentum, the Rajoy government is unwilling to open dialogue [AP report] with those looking to break-up the nation. In fact, Rajoy insists that Puigdemont must first drop the threats to declare independence, before he agrees to any mediation.

Spain’s Constitution [text, PDF] prohibits any region in Spain from seceding and mandates that all Span nationals must have a voice in the country’s national sovereignty. The government has thus far dispatched more than 5,000 forces to the region to maintain order and peace.