Barcelona village calls referendum on independence of Cataluña

Barcelona village calls referendum on independence of Cataluña
larger | smaller
By m.p. - Sep 2, 2009 - 2:29 PM
The government has placed a court appeal against the poll organised in Arenys de Munt

The Estelada flag for Catalan independence - www.20minutos.es

The state legal service, the Abogacía del Estado, has presented an appeal on behalf of the Spanish government against the decision of a Barcelona village to call a referendum on the independence of Cataluña.

Arenys de Munt, in the Maresme district of Barcelona province, has called the referendum for Sunday 13th September. It was proposed by a local independents’ movement, the MAPA, and is supported by a Town Hall vote which took place in early June.

The local poll hit the news after the far right Falange Española announced a demonstration in Arenys on the same day as the referendum, leading the local Mayor, Carles Móra, to ask the Cataluña regional government to change the day of the Falange protest. The Generalitat’s department of the interior responded that there was no reason to stop going ahead, but gave their assurance that the right-wing protest would be held in a different part of the village.

The situation escalated when anti-fascist groups and independents announced that they, too, will be holding protests.

The government appeal against the referendum was presented to a court in Barcelona this Wednesday on the grounds that it violates the law which governs the local Town Halls in Spain. The Mayor however claims it to be completely legal, as it was not organised by the Town Hall itself.

The appeal is understood to have been accepted for consideration and is now being studied by the court in the Catalan capital.

Click here for related stories

mobile |

email this article | print

printer friendly page

More Spain News : National

Readers' comments:
Please keep to the subject. Opinions published here are of our visitors, not the Typically Spanish team. Comments which go against Spanish laws or which are libellous are not allowed. We reserve the right to delete any comment we wish. Placing a comment indicates you have read our terms and conditions and privacy policy.

Por favor, céntrate en el tema. Son las opiniones de los internautas, y no las de Typically Spanish. No está permitido verter comentarios contrarios a las leyes españolas o injuriantes. Reservado el derecho a eliminar los comentarios que consideremos fuera de tema. Escribir un comentario indica que has leído nuestros condiciones de uso y politica de privacidad.