Felipe’s remarks on Sunday came three days after separatist parties in Catalonia, led by ousted president Carles Puigdemont, won an absolute majority of seats in a parliamentary vote. It followed a banned independence referendum on 1 October, which saw a brutal police crackdown that focused the world’s attention on the Catalan crisis. Two days after the referendum, Felipe made a rare televised speech, condemning the separatists’ “unacceptable disloyalty”. Supporters of Catalan unity with Spain accuse their separatist rivals of creating a gulf pitting the pro- and anti-independence camps. Tourism, a key industry for the Mediterranean region, has also been hit by the crisis.

Source: The Guardian December 25, 2017 00:56 UTC