The pro-independence majority in the Catalan Parliament is working together to "define" the "binding effects" of the 1st October referendum. This was announced by the president of the governing Junts pel Sí (Together for Yes) group, Lluís Corominas, the day after the imprisonment of Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart, which has accelerated events. "We will continue steadily on our path," he said. This joint work will be extended to the other parties.
However, they didn't want to give more details, especially over when and how. "We can't talk either about when or in what form it will be. If we come with a concrete proposal, we already know what will happen", said JxSí spokesperson Marta Rovira, who also called on the Spanish government to stop its repression and reestablish order. "We can only say that it's being worked on and we will continue working."
Rovira emphasised that they know "very clearly" what they have to "in the next few days" in the Parliament. "There's only one path in the situation they've put us in: the recuperation of each and every one of the fundamental rights," she said. "However much they hit us and imprison us, we're still standing," added Corominas, "our determination hasn't changed at all despite the repression they've thrown on us."
The president of JxSí expressed his regret that a court which "has no powers" is trying an alleged crime of sedition. "The Spanish government wants to impose the Constitution with baton hits and imprisonment for the people who don't think like them," said Corominas. He also accused the Spanish government of cowardice before concluding that "Spain now has political prisoners, Spain is no long a democracy".
The strongest words came from Lluís Llach, who described the imprisonment of Sànchez and Cuixart as a "political and legal obscenity". The deputy said that "Spain joins the murky list of states which need to have political prisoners to survive" and that the separation of powers in Spain has the "grotesque character of a third-world democracy". He said that they will continue defending the Catalan institutions "exercising the democratic mandate that the people gave us", peacefully but with strength and determination.