October 29, 2017

BARCELONA, Spain — Agustí Colomines, a Catalan civil servant, held up a copy of the decree from Madrid that had fired his boss and all the other leaders in the Catalan regional government.

“This is only words,” Mr. Colomines said on Sunday afternoon. “It’s not a real thing.”

As the Spanish government tries to restore constitutional order in Catalonia, after the Catalan Parliament’s declaration of independence on Friday, a question is whether the Catalan administration — its ministers, lawmakers, judges, teachers, policemen and civil servants — will fall in line on Monday and take their orders from the new caretaker administration installed on Friday by Madrid.

Read more:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/29/world/europe/catalonia-spain-carles-puigdemont.html?_r=0