| schema:articleBody
| - Nearly four years after Catalonia's government staged a failed independence bid, Spain has pardoned nine separatist leaders who were serving long jail terms for their role in the crisis. Here are the key dates in the separatist crisis in this wealthy northeastern region of Spain. On September 6, 2017, the separatist majority in Catalonia's regional parliament passes a law paving the way for an independence referendum on October 1. It is fiercely opposed by Madrid. In February 2017, Spain's Constitutional Court had declared any such vote would be unconstitutional. On October 1, security forces operating under a judicial mandate intervene in the referendum process, seizing ballot boxes in many polling stations. Images of police violence are beamed around the world. Turnout is about 43 percent, with nine out of 10 voters backing independence, Catalan authorities say. The results cannot be verified as there are no independent observers and police have disrupted the electronic count. On October 3, after hundreds of thousands of Catalans rally in fury over the police violence, King Felipe VI sternly denounces the independence bid and calls on national authorities to "ensure constitutional order". On October 27, 70 separatist deputies -- just over half of the 135 lawmakers in the Catalan parliament -- unilaterally declare independence. Madrid immediately suspends Catalonia's autonomy, dissolving its parliament and dismissing its separatist leaders. It calls a regional election for December 21. On November 2, eight regional ministers are detained. A European arrest warrant is issued for Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who has fled to Brussels. Catalans turn out in large numbers during a December 21 regional election, voting separatist parties back into power, including several candidates who are in prison and others who are in self-imposed exile. On June 2, 2018, Quim Torra is sworn in as Catalonia's new president and the region's autonomy is restored. That same day a new Spanish prime minister is also sworn in -- Socialist Pedro Sanchez. He adopts a softer tone on Catalonia -- resuming dialogue with Torra -- but rules out any referendum on independence. Talks between Sanchez and Torra break down ahead of the trial of 12 separatists for their role in the independence bid, which begins on February 12, 2019. On October 14, the Supreme Court hands down heavy prison sentences of between nine and 13 years to nine of the separatists, who are convicted of sedition. Thousands of Catalans pour onto the streets in protest, blocking roads and rail tracks and storming Barcelona's airport, burning barricades and clashing with riot police. Sanchez is sworn in for a second term in January 2020 with the support of Catalan separatist party ERC. The party backs him in exchange for talks between Madrid and the Catalan government over the secession crisis, which begin on February 26 but are soon suspended due to the pandemic. In September, Torra is banned from holding public office for refusing to remove separatist symbols from public buildings, triggering an early election in Catalonia. During the election in February 2021, separatists parties increase their majority in Catalan parliament but fail to elect a president due to rifts between them. Eventually they agree on ERC moderate Pere Aragones who takes office on May 21 and is more open to dialogue with Madrid than his hardline predecessor. Even so he pledges to push for a new referendum on independence. In the name of "reconciliation", Sanchez says his government will pardon the nine jailed leaders in a bid to break the deadlock over the separatist crisis in Catalonia. On June 22, his cabinet approves the controversial move, despite fierce opposition from Spain's right-wing opposition, ahead of a first round of talks between Sanchez and Aragones. bur-hmw/yad
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)