Following reports that Spain's attorney general, José Manuel Maza, has ordered security forces to intervene and prevent any preparations for organising an independence referendum. including seizing any materials to be used in the referendum, such as ballot boxes and voting papers, Kenneth Gibson MSP lodged the following motion:
Motion S5M-07624: Kenneth Gibson, Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date Lodged: 11/09/2017
Spain Must Respect Catalonia's Democratic Right to Hold an Independence Referendum
That the Parliament acknowledges what it sees as the democratic right of the Catalan Government to hold a binding referendum to determine its own constitutional future on 01 October 2017; agrees that Catalan President Carles Puigdemont was correct to call the referendum following the decision by the democratically-elected Catalan Parliament on 06 September that it should be held; rejects what it considers the spurious complaint filed by Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, with Spain's constitutional court seeking to have the vote annulled; is disturbed at the reports of threats by Spain's Chief State Prosecutor, José Manuel Maza, that Catalan officials involved in organising the referendum, some of whom will no doubt personally not support independence, will face charges such as disobedience, abuse of power and embezzlement; notes with concern the raids carried out by the armed Guardia Civil on anyone printing ballot papers for the referendum; believes that this illustrates the extreme lengths that the Spanish Government is going to in order to deny the Catalan people their democratic and universal right to self-determination, and calls on it to respect that universal right and cease any actions to stifle it.
Supported by:
David Torrance, Richard Lyle, John Mason, Rona Mackay, Ivan McKee, Graeme Dey, Jenny Gilruth, Sandra White, Clare Adamson, Fulton MacGregor, Bill Kidd
To watch video footage of the citizens' protest, click here.
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