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Spanish PM Fires Catalan Government After Vote For Independence

BARCELONA, Spain (CBS News) — The prime minister of Spain is taking a dramatic step to assert authority over Catalonia after the regional parliament voted...
spanish independence

BARCELONA, Spain (CBS News) — The prime minister of Spain is taking a dramatic step to assert authority over Catalonia after the regional parliament voted to secede from Spain on Friday.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced he is dissolving the Catalan parliament, and called for a new regional election on Dec. 21. He spoke after a special Cabinet meeting to discuss what measures to take in the wake of the Catalan parliament’s vote to secede from Spain earlier Friday.

The firing of the regional leaders is likely to meet with fierce opposition in Catalonia, where thousands have been celebrating the independence declaration.

The government has been authorized to dismiss the regional government and curtail the Catalan parliament’s powers by the Spanish Senate.

The move after Catalonia’s parliament voted to approve a motion Friday to establish an independent Catalan Republic, voting to secede from Spain after an acrimonious debate that saw opposition lawmakers walk out in protest before the vote.

The vote in Barcelona came after Rajoy delivered an impassioned speech in Madrid, urging the country’s Senate to grant his government special constitutional measures that would allow it to take control of Catalonia’s autonomous powers and halt the region’s independence bid.

The vote was approved with 70 in favor of independence, 10 against and two blank ballots in Catalonia’s 135-member parliament.

Rajoy immediately called for calm despite the vote, which Spain is deeply set against.

Read more and see video, here.

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