For Catalans, it is compliance or defiance to Madrid

Bloomberg

Normal weekend routines like shopping, soccer and strolling prevailed in Catalonia even as the first test of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s decision to take over the breakaway region approached, with Catalans weighing compliance versus defiance.
When schools and government offices open on Monday, teachers
and civil servants will decide whether to follow the ousted Catalan leaders’ calls to resist their Spanish masters or acquiesce to the new reality. A smooth transition in the Catalan police force, with the new chief accepting Madrid’s rule, marked an initial success for Rajoy.
“The more moderate and pragmatic elements probably realize they’re not going to get very far,” said Caroline Gray, a lecturer in politics and Spanish at Aston University in the UK who specialises in nationalist movements. “The more radical elements, however, are in the parallel universe of the new republic—and that disconnect worries me. The situation could turn unpredictable if Spain moves in to take control.”
Carles Puigdemont, who was fired by Rajoy as the region’s
president after Friday’s declaration of independence, called for “democratic opposition” and peaceful
resistance. A nationalist leader, Jordi Sanchez, issued a statement from jail advocating “Gandhi-style resistance.”
The Catalan government is no more in the eyes of Spain, and indeed the European Union. Right after Catalan lawmakers victoriously sang their anthem, Rajoy used
the power granted to him by the senate to start bringing to an end the country’s worst constitutional crisis for decades.
Rajoy dissolved the Catalan Parliament and delegated his deputy, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, to take on the role of head of the Catalan regional government.
Elections, which Puigdemont had wanted to call to defuse the situation only to balk as the separatist hard core engulfed him, were set for December 21.
In the hours that followed, it was business as usual in Barcelona: no visible show of force from authorities, open shops packed with customers and swarms of tourists down the central artery of La Rambla. The red and gold Spanish flag was atop City Hall and the Catalan regional government building.
Meantime, Spanish television showed Puigdemont in a coffee bar in his hometown of Girona during his three-minute recorded statement on Saturday afternoon.
Girona was scheduled to host Real Madrid for a soccer game on Sunday, with the coach’s pre-game comments focused on the game itself. “For us it is a fiesta where the best or one of the best clubs in the world can come and play one-to-one with the team of all the people of Girona,” said the team’s manager Pablo Machin, who is Spanish and not Catalan.
At midday, demonstrators in Madrid will march in favor of national unity. And while Puigdemont called for human shields to protect the government building in the days leading up to the declaration of independence, some of the thickest crowds in Barcelona on Saturday were at the Zara clothing store.