Call for local leaders to show commitment to referendum

The two main associations representing towns in Catalonia are calling on mayors to show their willingness to ensure the independence referendum on October 1 is a success. The Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI), which represents 83% of Catalan municipalities, and the Catalan Association of Municipalities (ACM in Catalan), which brings together 97% of local authorities, are calling on the country’s mayors to take part in an event this Saturday to show  they are willing to cooperate in carrying out the referendum. By joining the event, the local representatives who take part will symbolically show their commitment to allowing the use of  municipal facilities by the Catalan executive and helping “with all the actions required by the government,” says the manifesto to be read on Saturday.

The text compels the mayors who sign up to “work with the country’s institutions to guarantee that the whole of Catalan society is able to freely express itself and to give them an answer.” At the same time, it commits the local leaders who turn out on Saturday at Barcelona University’s main auditorium “to take no step backwards because of any political, legal or other kind of obstacle that Spain could orchestrate against holding the referendum,” according to the manifesto.