‘I'm ready to organize a hunger strike in the European Parliament’

Philosopher Josep Maria Terricabras is, at 71, the oldest Catalan MEP. But he says he is ready to organize a hunger strike in front of the European Parliament in Brussels if Spain "aggressively" impedes the October 1 independence referendum. "People would react, because there are hundreds of thousands, probably millions, that want to vote, even to vote 'no'. Not letting people vote would be an aggression, people would take to the streets and occupy squares, of course, and I would support this," he said in an interview with Catalan News.

"I'm ready to organize a hunger strike in the European Parliament, if necessary," he confirmed. A hunger strike is an unprecedented move by an elected member of the European chamber that could cause trouble in Brussels, where the issue of Catalan independence is being framed by EU officials as an "internal affair" of Spain. And Terricabras thinks he would not be "the only one" protesting.  

Terricabras, who entered politics in the 2014 European election, has always been in favor of an independent Catalonia, and is convinced that a referendum is "the only civilized way" to resolve the issue. The Catalan MEP warns Spain against using police to stop the opening of polling stations on October 1. "Today, everyone has a mobile phone. If there are 300 people around a ballot box and three or four police officers trying to take it away, those pictures will be sent all around the world," he said.

But Spain has other ways to stop the vote. In the past few days, Spanish Guardia Civil officers have questioned several high-ranking officials in the Catalan Government and even the president of the National Pact for the Referendum, a civil society group that collected signatures in favor of solving the conflict between Catalonia and Spain with a referendum agreed by both parties. More than 400 elected officials in the country are being investigated.