Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 26 sepTember 2017
Who gives the orders? Spain, Catalonia both claim police

The power struggle is the “The Mossos will never give
most serious constitutional up the exercise of the pow-
crisis Spain has faced in ers that are its own,” Forn
nearly four decades. said in a statement broad-
Catalan leader Carles cast on Catalan public
Puigdemont has pledged television. Forn has prom-
to declare independence ised that the Mossos will
within 48 hours should se- ensure that the referendum
cessionists manage to happens. He told Catalan
stage the secession refer- newspaper El Punt-Avui:
endum and win it. “Not only will we not stop
The move would push the the referendum, we will do
country into uncharted wa- the exact opposite: We will
ters and set off a national facilitate that the referen-
political emergency. dum takes place.”
But if police impede poll- The tensions are driving
ing stations from opening fault lines in Catalonia: polls
at schools and other gov- suggest roughly half of its
ernment buildings, it will be 7.5 million residents want to
a victory for Spanish Prime break century-old ties with
Minister Mariano Rajoy in Spain, with the rest wish-
a long battle against the ing to remain a part of the
separatists. larger nation. Fissures have
In this Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017 photo, Mossos d’Esquadra police officers scuffle with protestors On Saturday, Spain’s Interi- also formed within the Mos-
during a demonstration supporting Catalonia’s independence referendum at the private postal or Ministry announced that sos, which was created in
service company Unipost in Terrassa, Spain. it would begin coordinat- the early 1980s as part of
(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) ing all police efforts in the self-governance granted
By JOSEPH WILSON ficers don’t know what to The referendum on wheth- region related to the vote, to the northeastern region.
Associated Press think or do. er Catalonia should se- including the operations of Serious doubts for many
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) “We only ask that they cede from Spain is putting the 17,000-strong Mossos. Mossos started in July,
— Catalonia is count- don’t put us in the middle intense pressure on the re- That was rejected by Cat- when the top two regional
ing on its regional police of it,” says Francesc Vidal, gion’s police officers, who alonia’s regional interior officials in charge of the
force to help carry out a a 16-year veteran of the feel caught between their chief Joaquim Forn, who police resigned.
referendum on indepen- force known as the Mos- oath to the nation’s consti- said the Mossos police chief The regional government
dence Sunday. Spain says sos d’Esquadra. “We don’t tution and loyalty to local has told Spanish authorities replaced them with Forn
it’s counting on the same know how to act. We re- leaders who have vowed that regional leaders would and Pere Soler, men with
force to prevent it. ceive orders from both to create a new European not cede command of the spotless pro-independence
Increasingly desperate of- sides.” state. force. credentials.q

French truck drivers stage road

blocks to protest labor changes

PARIS (AP) — French truck Protesters also organized
drivers staged road block- an operation to slow down
ages near fuel depots traffic on a major highway
across the country Monday in northern France close to
to protest against Presi- the Belgian border.
dent Emmanuel Macron’s The transport ministry said
changes to labor laws. in a statement the situa-
Two major unions, CGT and tion was back to “normal”
FO, called a nationwide Monday at noon.
protest action because “There’s free access to al-
they fear the new rules Ma- most all fuel depots”, the
cron formally signed last ministry said in a statement.
week will lead to a deterio- “As a consequence, gas
ration in working conditions stations are being supplied
and ease the firing of work- normally.”
ers. Macron says the labor law
Fuel storage facilities in changes are essential to
southwestern France, in reviving the French and Eu-
Normandy, near the south- ropean economies.
ern city of Marseille and The measures aim to make
in the Paris region were it easier for firms to hire and
blocked for several hours fire, simplify negotiations
Monday, but police soon between employers and
intervened and allowed employees, and reduce
access in many places. the power of national col-
Government spokesman lective bargaining.
Christophe Castaner called They are to be ratified by
on French drivers not to rush parliament and fully imple-
to gas stations to avoid fuel mented by the end of the
shortages. year.q