ERC claims threat of extreme violence
Marta Rovira claims State intimidated Generalitat with threat of “extreme violence” if independence declared
If in recent days the independence movement has used the police charges of October 1 and the possibility of more violence to explain their actions regarding the referendum and the declaration of the Republic, yesterday the general secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira, went one step further. Speaking on RAC1 she provoked a storm of outrage from the Spanish government and the unionist parties by directly accusing the State of having “threatened” the Catalan government to send the armed forces into Catalonia and possible deaths on the streets if the it went ahead with the declaration of independence. According to the ERC leader and presidential candidate for the December 21, the Rajoy executive Rajoy transmitted the threats to Puigdemont through a “number of channels” although without revealing who they were.
Rovira claimed that “very reliable sources” had informed the government “there would be blood and we had to stop because they would not hesitate this time and there would be no rubber bullets.” She added that it is possible at some later date those sources could be identified. She also said that they had been informed of movement of forces at the military base at San Clemente Sescebes and that the army was prepared to use live ammunition.
Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, who is in Gothenburg attending a summit of European Union leaders, described Rovira’s allegations as “shameful” and “a pack of lies”. “The claim that this woman has made is absolutely false, and I can say that as I am the Minister of Defense,” responded María Dolores de Cospedal, the first minister to react to the claim and who only yesterday was visiting the Military History Museum in the Castle of Sant Ferran in Figueres (Alt Emporda).