Spain Won’t Arrest Separatist Leaders, Blames “Fake News” For Catalan Crisis

#Catalonia will be governed from Madrid by ministers of a party that got 8.5% of the vote at last Catalan elections. pic.twitter.com/W6avedq3ZS
— Kate Shea Baird (@KateSB) October 21, 2017

Following Catalan President Puigdemont’s address yesterday accusing Madrid of “the worst attack since Franco,” the Spanish government has urged Catalonians to accept direct control from Madrid and ignore seditious instructions from the pro-independence leaders.
Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis responded on Sunday with the call to obey Madrid.
‘We are going to establish the authorities who are going to rule the day-to-day affairs of Catalonia according to the Catalan laws and norms … I hope everyone will disregard whatever instructions they will be planning to give because they will not have the legal authority to do that.’
However, Dastis sought to calm nerves in the region, saying Madrid would not conduct arrests among the pro-independence leadership, though two prominent secessionists were detained on court order this month on allegations of sedition.
‘All the government is trying to do, and reluctantly, is to reinstate the legal order, to restore the constitution but also the Catalan rules and proceed from there,’ Dastis told BBC TV.
“We are not going to arrest anyone.”

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Oct 22, 2017.