Spain Moves to Take Control Over Catalonia<br />that We can’t continue in this situation because we are being repressed by the Spanish state.<br />Emili Ara said that Leave Catalonia!<br />Addressing the Catalan Parliament in Spanish, Carlos Carrizo, a lawmaker from Ciudadanos, a party<br />that opposes secession, told Mr. Puigdemont and separatist lawmakers that, far from creating a new Catalan republic, "you will go down in history for having fractured Catalonia and for sinking the institutions of Catalonia." In front of the assembly, he tore apart a copy of the independence resolution.<br />Before the independence vote, Marta Rovira, a separatist lawmaker, told the assembly<br />that "today we start on a new path" to build "a better country." She added: "We are creating a country free of repression." Catalan lawmakers who voted for independence could face prosecution for sedition, or even rebellion.<br />Mr. Puigdemont’s government has been flouting Spain’s Constitution since early September, when separatist<br />lawmakers voted to hold a binding referendum on independence on Oct. 1 as a key step toward statehood.<br />Marta Ribas, a Catalan lawmaker, said that Madrid’s use of Article 155 was unjustified, but also argued<br />that "it’s a mistake to respond to one outrageous act with another outrageous act." She added: "A declaration of independence won’t protect us from the 155, quite the contrary." In the streets outside Parliament in Barcelona, not far from a boisterous pro-independence rally, a few Catalans quietly expressed similar frustrations.<br />" Mr. Escolar said while smoking a cigarette outside his cafe. that Most of the people who would have voted no did not participate,<br />that We have to declare independence even if we end up with less autonomy than we have now,<br />Ester Romero said that Two months ago, I would have said that 43 percent was not enough,
