Catalan civil servants organize against Spain’s takeover of the government

Catalan civil servants are organizing a common front against the enforcement of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, that is, Madrid’s direct rule of Catalonia. ‘Assemblea en Defensa de les Institucions Catalanes’ (Assembly to Defend the Catalan Institutions) is the entity formed by Catalan government employees to reject the measures that the Spanish government has implemented against Carles Puigdemont’s cabinet and the rest of the Catalan government. One of the first initiatives taken by the assembly was a demonstration in central Barcelona on Tuesday.

During the event, the employees read a manifesto in which they recognize “the authority and legitimacy of the president, his government and the institutions which represent it which come from the Catalan Parliament, democratically elected on September 27, 2015”. In addition, the employees “flatly reject the repressive actions” of the Spanish state against Catalan officials, civil servants and “any people who peacefully demonstrate for their political ideas”. The manifesto also calls on citizens to “defend their government institutions”.