BARCELONA: Thousands of people took to the streets of Catalonia on Tuesday after a judge ordered the detention of two separatist leaders, further inflaming tensions over the region’s chaotic referendum on splitting from Spain.

Thousands of workers in Barcelona and other cities staged a brief walkout at noon in protest at Monday’s move by the National Court in Madrid to keep Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sanchez behind bars pending investigations into sedition charges.

“Repression is not the solution,” protesters shouted as hundreds gathered outside the Catalan regional government offices in central Barcelona. “Now anyone can be put in jail,” said Carme Guell, a 62-year-old beautician who joined the walkout as civil servants from nearby regional ministries blocked the street.

Like many who back independence for Catalonia — which is profoundly divided on the issue — Guell said the wealthy northeastern region was “treated like a colony. All our money is taken away, nothing is reinvested here.”

The demonstrations came as the clock ticks down to Thursday when Madrid has ordered Catalonia’s separatist leader Carles Puigdemont to spell out whether or not he intends to declare independence outright following the referendum on October 1.

Puigdemont has so far declined to give a definitive response after issuing a cryptic “suspended” declaration of independence last week, calling instead for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to come to the negotiating table.

But Rajoy rejects mediation as a non-starter and unless Puigdemont backs down, appears likely to start imposing direct control over the semi-autonomous region. That would further escalate Spain’s worst political crisis since it emerged from military dictatorship in 1977.

The referendum resulted in a 90 percent ‘Yes’ vote. But turnout was only 43 percent as many supporters of Spanish unity stayed away after the Constitutional Court ruled the vote illegal. The court on Tuesday struck down the Catalan law that paved the way for the referendum, ruling unanimously that the region does not have a “right to self-determination”.

With the two sides stuck in stalemate, Madrid announced on Monday that it was cutting its economic growth forecast for next year from 2.6 to 2.3 per cent.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2017