Students gather at the historical headquarters of the University of Barcelona during a pro-referendum demonstration on Sept. 22, 2017, in Barcelona, Spain. The country's central government has dealt a serious blow to Catalonia's plans to hold an independence vote, but Madrid faces growing indignation in the region.
Tensions remain high between the Spanish government and the regional government in Catalonia. Madrid insists that the referendum on Catalan independence , scheduled for Oct. 1, is illegal and will not take place. The Catalan government has promised that the vote will go on as planned. Turning Up the Heat So far, Madrid's strategy for dealing with Catalonia's push for secession has had three parts. The first consists of applying legal and economic pressure on the regional government. Madrid has taken every secessionist decision by the Catalan government to the country's Constitutional Court, which has declared each one illegal. The Spanish judiciary has started investigations to determine whether any crimes have been committed during the organization of the referendum, and many members of the Catalan government and mayors of Catalan cities who offered to help organize the vote have been summoned to testify before provincial prosecutors.
