The Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, appeared at 11:30am in the Gothic gallery of the government palace, alongside members of his cabinet to denounce today's actions by the Spanish state as "repressive and intolerant" and to confirm that the government is not revoking the call for the 1st October independence referendum.
"We citizens are called on 1st October to defend democracy in the face of a repressive and intimidating regime And we've given a large-scale, civil response. We have to prepare ourselves to respond with the only arms we have, the response of the public and the peaceful and civilised attitude that has characterised us during this time," he said.
The president called or a "firm and calm" response to denounce "the abuses". "But on the 1st we will leave our houses, we will take a voting slip and we will use it" he said, emphasising that this action will have to "contrast with [the action] of those who only speak with the language that authoritarianism has spoken for too many years".
Before appearing, the president called an emergency meeting of the government. Also at the palace were the speaker of the Parliament, Carme Forcadell, and former president Artur Mas.
Coordinated action
"The government of Catalonia has today been the target of a coordinated attack by the police forces of the Spanish government with the aim of preventing the Catalans from being able to express themselves, with peace and liberty, on 1st October and with the intention of suspending the Catalan government." With these words the president started his 6-minute long speech.
He said that "this attack is outside of legal protection, has been carried out violating the rule of law and all constitutional guarantees and violating the EU Charter of Rights" and that, in so doing, "the Spanish state has de facto suspended self-governance and de facto applied a state of emergency".
The president continued "freedoms are being suspended and abolished, mayors are summoned to testify without having committed any crime, only as a means of intimidation, as recognised by the state's Attorney General who confuses his authority with an open bar".
"The police bursting into government offices, arresting high-ranking officials and carrying out indiscriminate searches, the intimidation of media outlets, action by the Public Prosecutor on the fringes of judicial control, the attempt to block the accounts of the Catalan government, the violation of the privacy of postal messages, the closing of web pages and the threatening of citizens creates an unacceptable situation in a democracy and is typical of a government which aims to solve by the suspension of the rule of law and a siege of democracy and freedoms the democracy of the immense majority fo the people of Catalonia."
In the face of this situation, he said that the Catalan government wants to address "a clear message" to its citizens condemning and rejecting "the totalitarian and anti-democratic attitude of the state" and a PP (Popular Party) government which has shown the intolerance "which Spanish politics has had for a good part of its history".
Red line of authoritarian regimes
He reiterated his full support and the political, legal and personal protection for the public servants and members of the government arrested, denounced "as illegitimate" the interventions in the Catalan government and guaranteed that there will be a peaceful response to this situation. "We believe that the Spanish government has gone far beyond the red line that separated it from authoritarian and repressive regimes and has become a democratic embarrassment," he said.
Puigdemont announced that his government will study with economic, social and civil agents "the appropriate responses". "We will assert the legitimacy of the decision of the Catalan people. We won't back down because we don't have right to and we will defend the right of the Catalans to decide their future, because it's the duty we received from them and from the Parliament," he said.
He said that the Catalan government will always take decisions protected by its "legitimacy won at the ballot box and will be faithful to the intention of a legislature, a parliament and a government programme never suspended" warning that "the situation seen in Catalonia is seen in no other state of the EU".
"To citizens indignant today, the Catalan government ratifies its commitment and guarantees to always defend them. We won't accept a return to previous eras and we won't accept them not allowing us to decide our future eras of freedom and democracy," he concluded.