In a shockingly rapid sequence of events, history was made twice over in Spain on Friday. In the space of less than an hour, the Catalan regional Parliament in Barcelona declared its independence from Spain, and then Spain’s Parliament in Madrid voted to take control of Catalonia. The historic turn of events arose from a decades-long national debate in Spain surrounding Catalan independence, which reached an initial peak earlier this month when Catalan residents voted to declare independence from Spain in a referendum that Spain’s government deemed illegitimate. But the victory was short-lived, as the Spanish government quickly moved to seize control of the region. Immediately after Friday’s independence declaration, thousands of people cheered in the streets of Barcelona, Reuters reported.

Source: Huffington Post October 27, 2017 22:38 UTC