2017 Spanish constitutional crisis

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This article is about the constitutional crisis over the 2017 Catalan independence referendum. For
the police operation and subsequent civil conflict ahead of the 1 October vote, see Operation
Anubis.
2017 Spanish constitutional crisis
Part of the 2008present Spanish crisis and the 2012present Catalan independence movement

Location of Catalonia within Spain.

6 September 2017 present
Date
(4 weeks and 1 day)
Location Spain, primarily Catalonia
Government of Catalonia's refusal to abide to Constitutional Court's suspension of
Caused by the 2017 Catalan independence referendum.
Government of Spain's refusal to negotiate a legal referendum.
Methods Demonstrations, civil disobedience, civil resistance, occupations, general strikes
Ongoing

Referendum held despite suspension; hundreds injured during police crackdownon

polling day.
Legal actions initiated against members of Catalan government and Parliament by
Status Spanish judiciary; financial and police intervention of Catalonia by the Spanish
government.
Street protests throughout Catalonia; regionwide general strike on 3 October.
Catalan government announcing moves towards unilateral independence declaration.
Demonstrations throughout Spain in support and against the Spanish government's
actions.
Parties to the civil conflict
Government of Spain Generalitat of Catalonia
 Ministry of the Interior of Spain
Ministry of the Interior of Catalonia
National Police Corps
Mossos d'Esquadra
Civil Guard

Lead figures
King Felipe VI[1]
Mariano Rajoy Carles Puigdemont
Soraya Senz de Santamara Oriol Junqueras
Juan Ignacio Zoido
Number
Police detachment in Catalonia: Catalan police force:

12,000[2][3] 17,000[4]

Casualties
Injured: 893 (in Catalonia)[8]
3 (in Madrid)[9]
Injured: 431 policemen[5] (2nd October) 10[6]or 13[7](end of 1st October)
Arrested: 18 (in Catalonia)
1 (in Madrid)[9]
The 2017 Spanish constitutional crisis[10] is an ongoing political conflict
between the Government of Spain and the Generalitat of Catalonia over the
issue of the 2017 Catalan independence referendum, starting after the law
intending to allow such a referendum was denounced by the Spanish
government under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and subsequently suspended
by the Constitutional Court until it ruled on the issue.[11][12] The Catalan
government under President Carles Puigdemont announced that neither central
Spanish authorities nor the courts would halt their plans and that it intended to
hold the vote anyway, sparking a legal backlash that quickly spread from the
Spanish and Catalan governments to Catalan municipalitiesas local mayors
were urged by the Generalitat to provide logistical support and help for the
electoral process to be carried outas well as to the Constitutional Court,
the High Court of Justice of Catalonia and state prosecutors.[11][13][14]
By 15 September, as proCatalan independence parties began their
referendum campaigns, the Spanish government had launched an all-out legal
offensive to thwart the upcoming vote, including threats of a financial takeover
of much of the Catalan budget, police seizing pro-referendum posters,
pamphlets and leaflets which had been regarded as illegal and criminal
investigations ordered on the over 700 local mayors who had publicly agreed to
help stage the referendum.[15][16] Tensions between the two sides reached a
critical point after Spanish police raided the Catalan government headquarters
in Barcelona on 20 September, at the start of Operation Anubis, and arrested
13 senior Catalan officials, with some international media describing the events
as "one of the worst political crises in modern Spanish history".[17]