Situation still tense in Catalonia, where at midnight today the electoral campaign officially kicks off for the December 21 elections, which will renew the Parliament of the independent community, on whose result the fate of the independence process will also depend initiated with the controversial referendum of last October 4, disowned by Madrid but still claimed by the Catalan leaders and by a large part of the population of Barcelona and its surroundings.
The Spanish Supreme Court has decided to release six of the seven detained ministers, with a bail of 100 thousand euros, while Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras and the two Jordis remain in custody, Sanchez and Cixart, considered points of reference for independence. Judge Pablo Llarena denied releasing ex-minister of the interior Joaquim Forn as well.
The decision of the Spanish magistrate therefore intervenes a few hours after thestart of the campaign for the Catalan elections on 21 December, in which Junqueras, leader and head of list of Erc, the first Catalan party, and Jordi Sanchez, 'number two' on the list of Junts Per Catalunya (JxCAT) led by the ousted president Carles Puigdemont, in exile in Brussels, will therefore not be able to participate.
About Puigdemont, a hearing on the Spanish extradition request is underway in Brussels for the deposed president and the other 4 ministers in exile.
However, the air remains heavy, in an electoral campaign that promises to be in a climate of years of lead, where threats to politicians are practically the order of the day and where intimidation also takes the form of writings on the walls under the house of the opposing politician . Here because the Spanish interior minister has ordered another 50 agents to leave Madrid for Catalonia and escort constitutionalist politicians and leaders engaged in the electoral campaign. They will join the already 200 men already present
