Spanish PM pressured to respond to Catalan chaos

Bloomberg

Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez is under pressure to restore order in Catalonia following a night of violence in cities across the region in the wake of jail sentences handed down to separatist leaders.
“It’s clear we are not facing a peaceful citizens’ movement, but one coordinated by groups that are using violence in the streets to fracture Catalan society,” the government said in a statement. Authorities will act firmly and in a proportional way to maintain order, it said.
Pablo Casado, the leader of the conservative opposition People’s Party, called on Sanchez to enact the national-security law to impose order.
“Restoring security and public order is an urgent task,” he said.
The violence in Spain’s northeast is playing out against the backdrop of an election campaign that will call voters back to the polling booths on November 10 for a fourth time in as many years. The scenes of fires and barricades on Barcelona’s streets raise the stakes for Sanchez as he comes under fire from political rivals to respond.
“We’re still waiting to see the full impact from the shock wave from the sentences,” said Lluis Orriols, a political scientist at Carlos III University in Madrid.