(Bloomberg) -- Carles Puigdemont, the exiled former President of Catalonia, accused the European Union of being passive about Spain's response to violent protests in Catalonia in recent weeks sparked by the sentencing of leaders of the region's independence movement.
“It pains me to admit that the European political institutions watch on in silence,” Puigdemont wrote in a guest commentary in Switzerland's SonntagsBlick newspaper. “The EU allows the police of one of its member states to use violence against its citizens.”
Rioting and strikes rocked Barcelona in recent weeks with hundreds of thousands drawn onto the streets of the Catalan capital to protest lengthy jail sentences meted out to the leaders of a bid two years ago to secede from Spain. The demonstrations have turned increasingly violent, and more than 200 police have been injured in clashes with protesters.
Puigdemont also criticized the fact that three Catalan members of the European Parliament have not been allowed to take their seats and exercise the mandate given to them by voters. Puigdemont is wanted by Spanish authorities for his role in leading the unconstitutional independence referendum in 2017 and now lives in Belgium.
To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Winters in Zurich at pwinters3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Andrew Davis, Sara Marley
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