Opposition slams president for call to follow Slovenian way to independence

The opposition parties in Catalonia have blasted the president for advocating following Slovenia's example to achieve independence.

Quim Torra said on Saturday that "Slovenians were clear about it, they decided to insist on their self-determination, and move forward with all the consequences, until achieving their aims, let's do the same as them."

"We are ready for what it takes to live free," he added in Brussels, shortly after an official trip to Slovenia, where he met the president of the Balkan country. 

Imposing direct rule again

The leader of the opposition, Inés Arrimadas, reacted to the remarks by calling Torra and his government "a danger to democracy and coexistence." For the leader of the Ciutadans party, Torra is advocating "violence and a civil conflict."

On Sunday, Arrimadas urged the Spanish government to take the first steps towards suspending Catalonia's self-rule. The People's Party leader, Pablo Casado, did the same this weekend, after the clashes between the Catalan police and groups of anti-fascist demonstrators in Girona and Terrassa on Thursday.

"Calling to uprising"

Spain's Socialist foreign minister, Josep Borrell, who is Catalan, claimed on Monday that the reference to Slovenia "is a way to express what seems to be a call for an uprising."