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| Catalan parliament discusses independence referendum - live | Catalan parliament discusses independence referendum - live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 4.14pm BST | |
| 16:14 | |
| President Carles Puigdemont arrives | |
| President Carles Puigdemont has arrived at the Catalan parliament. He is set to speak in around 45 minutes. | |
| The Catalan leader did not give the waiting reporters any indication of what he will say in his speech. | |
| #Puigdemont just arrived at the parliament. He will deliver his speech at 6 p.m. #Oct10 pic.twitter.com/LS6gO5fs0i | |
| 4.08pm BST | |
| 16:08 | |
| Jon Henley | |
| Catalonia has declared independence once before. On 6 October 1934, the president of the Generalitat, Lluís Companys, proclaimed a Catalan state, but it did not end well. | |
| The move was quickly crushed by the government. Companys was arrested, tried and sentenced to 30 years in prison for rebellion, the autonomous government was suspended and virtually all its members were jailed. | |
| Released after the Popular Front’s victory in Spain’s 1936 elections, he went into exile in France during the Spanish Civil War but was eventually handed over by the Nazis to the Franco regime, tried before a war council and executed in 15 October 1940. | |
| A spokesman for Spain’s ruling People’s Party (PP) this week invoked Companys’ memory. Pablo Casada warned ominously (and not very diplomatically): | |
| We hope they don’t declare anything tomorrow, because anyone doing so might end up like him 83 years ago, in prison. | |
| PP MP @pablocasado_ threatened Catalan President that his fate might be the same as former President Companys’. He was shot by Francoists pic.twitter.com/mdI1NX3y0Q | |
| Updated | |
| at 4.13pm BST | |
| 4.05pm BST | |
| 16:05 | |
| El Pais video journalist Alfonso Congostrina is also outside the Catalan parliament in Barcelona. He has been recording the build-up to Carles Puigdemont’s speech all afternoon. | |
| His videos show Catalan parliamentarians arriving for the announcement, which is set to take place at 5pm UK time. | |
| .@ALevySoler d @PPopular entra @parlament_cat para escuchar declaración @KRLS #DUI #155 #IndependenciaCatalunya #referendumCAT #1Oct2017 pic.twitter.com/g0Qe3dBZts | |
| 3.53pm BST | |
| 15:53 | |
| Sam Jones | |
| Jordi Balsells, a 50-year-old businessman from Barcelona, was wandering down the Passeigh Lluís Companys carrying an estelada [the Catalan flag]. | |
| “I’m here because we’ve reached the end of our cycle with Spain,” he said. “We’ve got nothing against them but we’re carrying on down our own path now. We’re more frightened by what’s behind us than what’s ahead.” | |
| Balsells said the will of the Catalan people had to be respected and that a Declaration of Independence had to be made. | |
| “We would have liked an agreed referendum [with Spain] but it didn’t happen. It’s impossible that there won’t be one unless the Spanish step in. It’s not even the president’s decision. It’s the decision of the Catalan people - and we’ve paid a high price in blood and beatings to vote in the referendum.” | |
| 3.49pm BST | |
| 15:49 | |
| EU president Donald Tusk appeals for Catalan restraint | |
| European Council president Donald Tusk has urged Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont not to “announce a decision that would make dialogue impossible” in an impassioned speech at the European Committee of the Regions, calling for dialogue with the Spanish government. | |
| Tusk said he was speaking “as an ethnic minority” and “as a man who knows what it feels like what it is to be hit by a police baton.” | |
| He said: | |
| I appeal to you not only as the president of the European Council, but also as a strong believer in the motto of the EU: united in diversity. As a member of an ethnic minority, as a man who knows what it feels like what it is to be hit by a police baton, and as a former prime minister of a big European country, in brief, as someone who understands and feels the arguments and emotions of all sides. | |
| A few days ago, I asked prime minister Rajoy to look for a solution to the problem without the use of force, to look for dialogue, because the force of argument is always better than the argument of force. | |
| Today, I ask you to respect, in your intentions the constitutional order and not to announce a decision that would make such dialogue impossible. Diversity should not and need not lead to conflict whose consequences would obviously be bad for the Catalans, for Spain and for the whole of Europe. | |
| Let us always look for what unites us, and not what divides us. This is what will decide the future of our continent. | |
| I appeal to @KRLS not to announce a decision that would make dialogue impossible. Let's always look for what unites us. United in diversity. | |
| 3.41pm BST | |
| 15:41 | |
| Jon Henley | |
| One of the options the Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, could consider is the so-called “Slovenian option” – essentially, a symbolic declaration of independence with the effect delayed by several months, allowing time for international mediation aimed at convincing Madrid to negotiate a later, legally guaranteed referendum. | |
| The term derives from the Brioni Agreement, signed on 7 July 1991 by the representatives of Slovenia, Croatia and Yugoslavia with the mediation of what was then the European Community. Aimed at creating an environment for further talks on Yugoslavia’s future, it put a stop to hostilities between Yugoslavia and Slovenia and ultimately ended Belgrade’s influence over Ljublana. | |
| Under the agreement, Slovenia – which had declared independence two weeks previously – agreed to suspend all practical steps towards self-rule for three months, while Yugoslavia pulled its troops out. The deal also fixed rules for border and customs controls on Slovenia’s borders and resolved air traffic control problems. | |
| International lawyers have said a similar approach by Catalonia could have political if not legal advantages, effectively buying the regional government time and allowing it not to disappoint two million voters while recognising that independence is not immediately feasible in the current circumstances. | |
| “So you say, ‘We’re not giving up, we’re continuing forward, but we’re appealing to the international community to act as a mediator and convince the Spanish state to agree to a referendum with legal guarantees,’” Joan Vintró, lawyer and lecturer on constitutional law at the University of Barcelona, told The Local. | |
| “It’s a way of not renouncing your objective while creating waiting time, within the margin of which you can negotiate on different fronts to either make independence effective from a certain time, or to submit to a legally guaranteed referendum,” Vintro said. | |
| But there is no indication whatsoever at present that the Spanish government would be inclined to entertain such an option, or that the European Union would intervene unless asked to by Madrid. Other lawyers also point out that Catalonia’s circumstances are by no means the same as Slovenia’s – for one thing, in 1991 the European community was intervening to defuse an armed conflict. | |
| Updated | |
| at 3.58pm BST | |
| 3.38pm BST | 3.38pm BST |
| 15:38 | 15:38 |
| Sam Jones | Sam Jones |
| At five past four Spanish time, Laura Sanz was putting the finishing touches to her homemade placard, which read: “Catalonia will be the tomb of Francoism.” | At five past four Spanish time, Laura Sanz was putting the finishing touches to her homemade placard, which read: “Catalonia will be the tomb of Francoism.” |
| The 19-year-old student had come down to the Passeig de Lluís Companys to back the pro-independence government as the Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, prepares to address parliament at 6pm local time. | The 19-year-old student had come down to the Passeig de Lluís Companys to back the pro-independence government as the Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, prepares to address parliament at 6pm local time. |
| “I want there to be an independence declaration,” she said. “But I don’t think there will be because the Guardia Civil will come and take Puigdemont away. If that happens, there’ll be a big mess tomorrow. The city will shut down; we’ll paralyse it like we did before.” | “I want there to be an independence declaration,” she said. “But I don’t think there will be because the Guardia Civil will come and take Puigdemont away. If that happens, there’ll be a big mess tomorrow. The city will shut down; we’ll paralyse it like we did before.” |
| Asked if Catalonia would become independent, she said: “I hope so. You have to be optimistic.” | Asked if Catalonia would become independent, she said: “I hope so. You have to be optimistic.” |
| Updated | |
| at 3.44pm BST | |
| 3.34pm BST | 3.34pm BST |
| 15:34 | 15:34 |
| Sam Jones | Sam Jones |
| Our Madrid correspondent Sam Jones is outside the Catalan parliament in Barcelona | |
| Catalan farmers are using their tractors to show their support for independence. Two days before the referendum on 1 October, a large convoy of tractors rolled into central Barcelona in a show of secessionist strength. Down by the Arc de Trionf, close the Catalan high court, a giant screen has been set up and the PA system is being tested. Thousands of independence campaigners are due to arrive here over the next two hours to watch the session in the nearby parliament. | Catalan farmers are using their tractors to show their support for independence. Two days before the referendum on 1 October, a large convoy of tractors rolled into central Barcelona in a show of secessionist strength. Down by the Arc de Trionf, close the Catalan high court, a giant screen has been set up and the PA system is being tested. Thousands of independence campaigners are due to arrive here over the next two hours to watch the session in the nearby parliament. |
| Updated | |
| at 3.44pm BST | |
| 3.30pm BST | 3.30pm BST |
| 15:30 | 15:30 |
| Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage as the Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, sets out his plans for independence in a speech to the regional parliament due to begin at 6pm local time. | Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage as the Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, sets out his plans for independence in a speech to the regional parliament due to begin at 6pm local time. |
| Puigdemont had promised to make a unilateral declaration of independence within 48 hours of the 1 October referendum but has so far refrained from doing so, calling instead for mediated negotiations with the Madrid government. | Puigdemont had promised to make a unilateral declaration of independence within 48 hours of the 1 October referendum but has so far refrained from doing so, calling instead for mediated negotiations with the Madrid government. |
| Police are guarding public buildings and have closed off the Citadella park surrounding the parliament building as tensions mount between those eager to see the birth of a new republic, and others opposed to independence and fearful of a backlash. | Police are guarding public buildings and have closed off the Citadella park surrounding the parliament building as tensions mount between those eager to see the birth of a new republic, and others opposed to independence and fearful of a backlash. |
| The Spanish government in Madrid has repeatedly said the referendum was illegal and unconstitutional and that it will use all legal means at its disposal to prevent Catalonia breaking away. Prime minister Mariano Rajoy has threatened to impose direct rule. | The Spanish government in Madrid has repeatedly said the referendum was illegal and unconstitutional and that it will use all legal means at its disposal to prevent Catalonia breaking away. Prime minister Mariano Rajoy has threatened to impose direct rule. |
| There is no firm indication of whether Puigdemont will formally declare Catalonia’s secession or take a less confrontational route, possibly by announcing a more symbolic recognition of independence to be negotiated and mediated by the international community. | There is no firm indication of whether Puigdemont will formally declare Catalonia’s secession or take a less confrontational route, possibly by announcing a more symbolic recognition of independence to be negotiated and mediated by the international community. |