2017 Carmarthenshire County Council election, By-Elections 2017-2022, Saron by-election 2018
A by-election was held in Saron on 19 July 2018 following the death of Plaid Cymru councillor Alun Davies. The seat was won by Plaid Cymru candidate Karen Davies.


2017 Carolina Challenge Cup
The 2017 Carolina Challenge Cup was the 13th edition of the Carolina Challenge Cup, an annual soccer tournament held in South Carolina by the Charleston Battery. The tournament ran from February 18 to 25, with all matches played at MUSC Health Stadium in Charleston, South Carolina.


2017 Carolina Challenge Cup
In addition to the Charleston Battery of the United Soccer League (USL), three Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs participated: expansion franchise Atlanta United FC, Columbus Crew SC and defending MLS Cup champions Seattle Sounders FC. Columbus won the competition with two wins and one draw.


2017 Carolina Panthers season
The 2017 season was the Carolina Panthers' 23rd in the National Football League and their seventh under head coach Ron Rivera. During the offseason, the team's notable free agent signings included Matt Kalil, Captain Munnerlyn and veteran Julius Peppers. Peppers previously spent his first eight seasons with the Panthers, appearing in Super Bowl XXXVIII with them. On July 17, 2017, the team announced Dave Gettleman had been relieved as general manager. His predecessor, Marty Hurney, was hired as interim GM a day later.


2017 Carolina Panthers season
For the first time since 2011, the Panthers did not play the Seattle Seahawks during the regular season. The Panthers rebounded after a disappointing 2016 campaign, where they finished 6–10 and last in the NFC South. 2017 saw the Panthers qualify for the playoffs with an 11–5 record. However, they lost to the Saints 31–26 in the Wild Card round.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 1: at San Francisco 49ers
The Panthers started off their season by making their first return to Levi's Stadium since losing to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50. Late in the first quarter Cam Newton threw a 40-yard touchdown to Russell Sheppard followed by a Graham Gano field goal. The Panthers scored six more points in the second quarter with two field goals. In the third Jonathan Stewart scored a touchdown, followed by another Gano field goal. With 3:14 left to go in the third quarter, Gano made his third field goal of the day making the score 23–0. Robbie Gould's kick with thirteen seconds to go gave the 49ers their first points of the game. Neither the Panthers or 49ers scored in the fourth quarter, resulting in Carolina defeating San Francisco 23–3. They improved to 1–0.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 2: vs. Buffalo Bills
In the Panthers home opener, Carolina's defense allowed only three points for the second straight week, and Graham Gano converted three field goals as the Panthers held on to defeat the Buffalo Bills 9–3 to remain undefeated. With seconds remaining in the game, Tyrod Taylor's 4th-and-11 pass sailed off diving rookie Zay Jones' fingertips, costing them the game winning touchdown. The Panthers improved to 2–0.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 3: vs. New Orleans Saints
The Saints were too much for the Panthers as they handed them their first loss of the season, 34–13. The Panthers fell to 2–1.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 4: at New England Patriots
In the first quarter, both Carolina and New England managed to only kick field goals. New England scored the first touchdown in the second quarter. Carolina answered with a touchdown by Fozzy Whitaker which tied the game again. The Patriots later scored with another Stephen Gostkowski field goal. Devin Funchess caught a ten-yard pass from Newton to give the Panthers a 17–13 lead. With four seconds remaining in the half Gostkowski kicked a 58-yard field goal, making the halftime score 17–16. Carolina had the only score in the third quarter with a Funchess touchdown but Gano missed the extra point.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 4: at New England Patriots
The Panthers started the fourth quarter with Cam Newton rushing for a touchdown, increasing the lead to 30–16. New England managed to score twice, tying the game at 30. With seconds left, Graham Gano kicked the game winning field goal. The Panthers won 33–30 (their first win in Foxborough since 1995) and improved to 3–1, which would also be their record against the Patriots since losing to them in Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 5: at Detroit Lions
Carolina and Detroit were tied with 3 points apiece at the end of the first quarter. Early in the second, the Lions scored a touchdown, making the score 3–10. The Panthers answered back with a Christian McCaffery touchdown, tying the game again. Devin Funchess scored a touchdown towards the end of the quarter, giving the Panthers a 17–10 lead. The Panthers started the second half with Cam Newton throwing a 31-yard touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin. Gano later made a 44-yard field goal to extend the lead to 27–10 going into the fourth quarter. Matthew Stafford threw a touchdown a pass to Fells, cutting the Panthers lead to 27–17. The Lions scored again with another Fells touchdown. The Panthers held on and won 27–24, improving to 4–1.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 6: vs. Philadelphia Eagles
On Thursday Night Football, both teams wore their Color Rush uniforms. The Eagles beat the Panthers 28–23, and Carolina fell to 4–2.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 7: at Chicago Bears
The Panthers lost for a second straight week by managing to score only one field goal in Chicago. The Bears beat Carolina 17–3, and they fell to 4–3.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 8: at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Panthers bounced back after a two-week losing streak, and beat their division rivals 17–3. Carolina improved to 5–3.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 9: vs. Atlanta Falcons
This was the Panthers' first game without wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin, who was traded to Buffalo days earlier. In this game, neither team scored in the same quarter. The Falcons were the only team to score in the first quarter, and led 10–0 going into the second. It was vice versa in the second, as Carolina scored two touchdowns for a four-point lead at the half. Atlanta was scoreless again in the third but Carolina scored on two Graham Gano field goals, making it 20–10. Atlanta had the only score of the fourth quarter, but Carolina survived and won 20–17. Their record improved to 6–3.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 10: vs. Miami Dolphins
In this Monday Night Football game, the Panthers beat the Dolphins 45–21 and improved to 7–3.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 12: at New York Jets
In the first quarter Carolina and New York scored only a field goal each. In the second quarter, Cam Newton scored a 1-yard touchdown but Graham Gano missed the extra point. Gano redeemed himself with another field goal, giving the Panthers a nine-point lead. Robby Anderson caught a 33-yard pass from Josh McCown, plus the extra point from Chandler Catanzaro, and Carolina led, 12–10. In the third New York scored a touchdown, and Jets led by 17–12. But Carolina answered with a Jonathan Stewart touchdown and took an 18–17 lead.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 12: at New York Jets
Early in the fourth Catanzaro kicked a field goal, putting the Jets back on top, 20–18. Later the Panthers blitzed McCown and forced a fumble, which was recovered by Luke Kuechly who recovered it for a 34-yard touchdown. The Jets punted after their next drive fizzled and Kaelin Clay returned it 60 yards, making the score 32–20. Jermaine Kearse scored a touchdown for the Jets, and Catanzaro's extra point cut the Panthers' lead to 5. With 0:21 to go in the fourth quarter, Gano kicked a field goal and Carolina won by a final score of 35–27. The Panthers record improved to 8–3. Their win knocked the Jets and Giants out of playoff contention.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 13: at New Orleans Saints
The Panthers and Saints were tied at 7–7 going into the second quarter. Mark Ingram scored a touchdown with a Wil Lutz extra point, and the Saints led by seven. The Saintsd score again to lead by 14. At the end of the second Christian McCaffery scored a touchdown, and with the extra point by Graham Gano, Carolina was down by seven at the half. Alvin Kamara scored a touchdown (Lutz kick) in the third, again increasing New Orleans' lead to 14 points. In the fourth quarter New Orleans scored 3 and Carolina scored 7. The Saints were too much for Carolina and won 31–21. Carolina fell to 8–4.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 14: vs. Minnesota Vikings
In a game featuring two of the NFC's best teams, Carolina was able to hold off the Vikings and win 31–24. The Panthers improved to 9–4.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 15: vs. Green Bay Packers
The Panthers spoiled Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers' return by intercepting three passes and winning 31–24. They also improved to 10–4. A few hours after the game ended, owner Jerry Richardson announced he was putting the Panthers up for sale.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 16: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
With the close win, the Panthers clinched a playoff spot for the fourth time in five years. They also improved to 11–4.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 17: at Atlanta Falcons
The Panthers went to Atlanta with a chance to win the NFC South. If Tampa Bay beat New Orleans and Carolina won, the Panthers would win the title. Despite Tampa's victory over the Saints, the Panthers lost 10–22, making the Saints NFC South champions. The Panthers ended the regular season with an 11–5 record.


2017 Carolina Panthers season, Postseason, NFC Wild Card Playoffs: at (4) New Orleans Saints
Carolina looked to beat New Orleans for the first time all season. Carolina's defense played better than in the past games, holding the Saints dynamic running backs to under 100 yards combined. Saints quarterback Drew Brees threw a crucial interception late, but the Panthers comeback fell just short and they lost 26–31. The Panthers ended the Wild Card Weekend with an 11–6 record.


2017 Carpathian Trophy
The 2017 Carpathian Trophy was the 49th edition of the Carpathian Trophy held in Craiova, Romania between 24–26 November as a women's friendly handball tournament organised by the Romanian Handball Federation.


2017 Carpathian Trophy, Statistics
Team roster: Adrianna Płaczek, Weronika Gawlik, Adrianna Górna, Katarzyna Janiszewska, Monika Kobylińska, Aleksandra Zych, Ewa Urtnowska, Joanna Drabik, Joanna Szarawaga, Kinga Grzyb, Daria Zawistowska, Monika Michałów, Karolina Kudłacz-Gloc, Sylwia Lisewska, Kinga Achruk, Romana Roszak, Joanna Kozłowska. Head Coach: Leszek Krowicki.


2017 Cary Challenger
The 2017 Cary Challenger was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the 3rd edition of the tournament which was part of the 2017 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Cary, North Carolina, United States between 11 and 17 September 2017.


2017 Cary Challenger, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2017 Cary Challenger, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received entry into the singles main draw using protected rankings:


2017 Cary Challenger – Doubles
Philip Bester and Peter Polansky were the defending champions but chose not to defend their title.


2017 Cary Challenger – Doubles
Marcelo Arévalo and Miguel Ángel Reyes-Varela won the title after defeating Miķelis Lībietis and Dennis Novikov 6–7(6–8), 7–6(7–1), [10–6] in the final.


2017 Cary Challenger – Singles
James McGee was the defending champion but chose not to defend his title.


2017 Cary Challenger – Singles
Kevin King won the title after defeating Cameron Norrie 6–4, 6–1 in the final.


2017 Case Western Reserve Spartans football team
The 2017 Case Western Reserve Spartans football team represented Case Western Reserve University of Cleveland, Ohio, during the 2017 NCAA Division III football season. The team was coached by 14th-year head coach Greg Debeljak and played its home games at DiSanto Field. The Spartans won both the PAC at 8-0 and the UAA at 2-0, finishing the regular season an undefeated 10-0.


2017 Case Western Reserve Spartans football team
In round 1 of the NCAA Division III playoffs, the Spartans shut out the Illinois Wesleyan Titans 28-0 in a game seeing heavy snow. In round 2, the team was defeated by the eventual NCAA Division III football national champion, Mount Union Purple Raiders.


2017 Catalan general strike
Catalan separatists held a general strike on 3 October 2017 following Catalonia's referendum on independence two days earlier. The referendum, which was held in defiance of Spanish national court orders, resulted in over 900 people injured as the national police attempted to prevent Catalans from voting. The violence galvanized separatist support for the strike, whose planning predated the crackdown, and led to endorsements from the Catalan government, the Catalan branches of the country's two largest labor unions, and pro-independence cultural groups.


2017 Catalan general strike
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, including 700,000 in Barcelona, participated in the strike. Despite high tensions, protests were civil, festive, and without incident, similar to prior pro-independence rallies. While protesters targeted Spanish police and national government sites, other effects included suspended public transportation and port activities, canceled university classes, and closed businesses small and large. Immediate effects of the strike included an emergency meeting called by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior and a rare televised address by Spanish King Felipe VI that condemned Catalan disloyalty and notably did not mention police violence during the referendum. Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont announced that the regional government would declare unilateral independence, which it did later that month.


2017 Catalan general strike, Background
Catalonia held a contentious referendum on its independence from Spain on Sunday, 1 October 2017, against orders from the Spanish central government. The national police enforcement attempted to prevent Catalans from voting in some locations with violent crackdowns that resulted in about 900 people injured and separatist calls for a general strike. By the time of the strike, the Catalan government was awaiting final referendum results before acting on what they had preliminarily announced as 90 percent support from about 2.3 million voters. The legitimacy of a declarative result was disputable for reasons of general population turnout, voter rolls, and independent confirmation. Sky News described the events as Spain's largest political crisis since its 1930s civil war.


2017 Catalan general strike, Background
Police violence during the referendum galvanized Catalan unions and cultural associations in support of the general strike. Smaller unions planned the strike in advance of the referendum and their efforts were compounded by strike endorsements given the night of the referendum from pro-independence cultural organizations Òmnium Cultural and the Catalan National Assembly as the vote was tallied. Supporters ultimately included the Catalan government and the Catalan branches of Spain's largest unions: the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) and Workers' Commissions (CCOO). (Their national leadership, however, advised Catalans against participating, adding that protests should be nationally coordinated.


2017 Catalan general strike, Background
For legal reasons, the labor unions additionally referred to the strike as a labor dispute, despite its political purpose.) Together, the dozens of pro-independence groups were known as the Taula per la Democràcia, or Board for Democracy. They called for three million Catalans, including business owners, workers, and the self-employed, to withhold their work and bring Catalonia to a halt. At the time of the strike, Catalonia represented a fifth of the Spanish gross domestic product, comparable in size to the Chilean economy. Separatists hoped that the strike would become a major demonstration, leading shop owners to shut down as protesters moved downtown.


2017 Catalan general strike, Actions
On 3 October, two days after the referendum, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators blocked roads across Catalonia, including main thoroughfares in Barcelona. Farmers blocked highways with their tractors. By 9:30 a.m., the Barcelona bus and subway systems were almost entirely halted. Catalonia's railway company suspended service, the national railway ran minimally, and the ports of Barcelona and Tarragona closed, as did places of work from small stores to the large, wholesale food-trading market Mercabarna. Universities canceled classes and the large public market La Boqueria was nearly empty.


2017 Catalan general strike, Actions
The strike included the staff of the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art and Sagrada Família basilica, and Barcelona's football team, FC Barcelona. Barcelona's airport and most other large industries, however, ran without disruption. Many students and farmworkers participated. By midday, in Barcelona, tens of thousands of people occupied the city's major streets—Avinguda Diagonal, Gran Via, Via Laietana—en route to the major demonstrations at the city's administrative center, Plaça Sant Jaume, and the intersection of Barcelona's other city squares at Ronda de la Universitat. Demonstrators gathered before the region's town halls before a planned action at 6 p.m. Barcelona city police later estimated the city's crowd to be 700,000 people in size.


2017 Catalan general strike, Actions
The Spanish police were a focal point of protest as a response to their actions during the referendum. A manifesto from the Board for Democracy, read from atop a car, called for withdrawal of Spanish security forces and more dialogue in lieu of force. It charged the state with aggressive violation of the public's "fundamental rights and democratic liberties". Protesters chanted, "Spanish police get out!" Demonstrators surrounded the hotels housing Spanish police to demand they leave Catalonia, which was also demanded by Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont.


2017 Catalan general strike, Actions
In the small towns of Calella and Pineda de Mar, protests led some hotels to eject their Spanish police guests. Xavier García Albiol, the leading Catalan figure of the Spanish prime minister's party, was booed when voicing his support of the Spanish police in Pineda de Mar. Protests at the National Police Corps station in Barcelona continued from the day prior for its role in repressing the referendum. Demonstrators also protested the Spanish Delegation to Catalonia and showed broad contempt for the Spanish press, whom they accused of manipulative reporting and casting separatists as greedy and violent.


2017 Catalan general strike, Actions
Despite high tensions, protests were civil, festive, and without incident, similar to prior pro-independence rallies. In one case, a protester who threw a beer can into riot police was surrounded by fellow protesters who chanted "We are a people of peace" and encouraged him to leave. Firefighters and the Catalan police acted in an improvised role as peacekeepers at some protests. In one instance, the Catalan police defused a volatile standoff by convincing the Spanish police to leave. Posts on social media encouraged peaceful protest and resistance to incitement. The Catalan government forewarned against plainclothes officers who may infiltrate gatherings to sow discord. Some shops were forced to close by protesters who graffitied "strikebreakers" on their storefronts.


2017 Catalan general strike, Actions
Protesters also sought to maintain momentum from the referendum. Some wore the Estelada (separatist flag) in yellow, red, and blue. Crowds sang Catalan singer Lluís Llach's "L'Estaca" and the Catalan anthem, "Els Segadors". On the Via Laietana, they chanted "Withdraw the forces of occupation" and "The disgrace of Europe" to the tune of the rock song "Seven Nation Army".


2017 Catalan general strike, Effects
The strike led the Spanish Ministry of the Interior to call an emergency meeting, and Spanish King Felipe VI to give a rare televised address that blamed Catalan leaders and the referendum for destabilizing the nation and showing "disloyalty towards the powers of the state—a state that represents Catalan interests." He did not mention the police violence during the referendum, the main cause for the strike. Barcelona's mayor condemned the speech for its lack of solutions and appeal for dialogue. Catalans responded with a cassolada protest, in which residents publicly made noise with pots and pans.


2017 Catalan general strike, Effects
The union of the Spanish military police compared circumstances in Catalonia to the violent 1981 peak of the Basque conflict, in a warning to police. The police union asked Spanish politicians to protect or withdraw those stationed in Catalonia. The security forces deployed to Catalonia were put on standby for the upcoming week. On the first night of the strike, their union filed complaints: that the Catalan police had not fulfilled its duties by not enforcing the Spanish court ban of the referendum, and that 200 officers were kicked out of a Calella hotel following a threat from the town's mayor.


2017 Catalan general strike, Effects
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy remained unrepentant, but met with opposition parties in Madrid. The spokesman for his party derided the "political" strike, compared the separatist function to Nazi indoctrination, and called for Catalan separatist leader Puigdemont to be banned from public office. Puigdemont, in turn, charged the Spanish government with returning to the authoritarian dictatorship of Franco. The first night of the strike, Puigdemont said that the Catalan government would declare independence within a week. Later that month, Catalonia declared its independence.


2017 Catalan general strike, Effects
Red Pepper said that the action was "perhaps the first large-scale workers' strike against state repression in Europe for over 40 years" with solidarity between workers across professions: dockworkers refusing to accommodate armed police boats, firefighters protecting demonstrators, and farm workers creating blockades with tractors.


2017 Catalan general strike, Effects
The labor union Intersindical-CSC called for a follow-up general strike a week later—from 10 to 16 October—which it later retracted. A month later, multiple Catalan groups called for another general strike against the Spanish government's actions against the Catalan independence process, to take place on 8 November, which closed roads across Catalonia but was much smaller in scale than the general strike.


2017 Catalan independence referendum
The Catalan independence referendum of 2017, also known by the numeronym 1-O (for "1 October") in Spanish media, was an independence referendum held on 1 October 2017 in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, passed by the Parliament of Catalonia as the Law on the Referendum on Self-determination of Catalonia and called by the Generalitat de Catalunya. It was declared unconstitutional on 7 September 2017 and suspended by the Constitutional Court of Spain after a request from the Spanish government, who declared it a breach of the Spanish Constitution.


2017 Catalan independence referendum
Additionally, in early September the High Court of Justice of Catalonia had issued orders to the police to try to prevent it, including the detention of various persons responsible for its preparation. Due to alleged irregularities during the voting process as well as to the use of force by the National Police Corps and Civil Guard, international observers invited by the Generalitat declared that the referendum failed to meet the minimum international standards for elections.


2017 Catalan independence referendum
The referendum was approved by the Catalan parliament in a session in which only nationalist parliamentarians participated on 6 September 2017 along with the Law of juridical transition and foundation of the Republic of Catalonia the following day 7 September, which stated that independence would be binding with a simple majority, without requiring a minimum turnout. After being suspended, the law was finally declared void on 17 October, being also unconstitutional according to the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia which requires a two-thirds majority, 90 seats, in the Catalan parliament for any change to Catalonia's status.


2017 Catalan independence referendum
The referendum question, which voters answered with "Yes" or "No", was "Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?". The "Yes" side won, with 2,044,038 (92.01%) voting for independence and 177,547 (7.99%) voting against, on a turnout of 43.03%. The Catalan government estimated that up to 770,000 votes were not cast due to polling stations being closed off during the police crackdown, although the "universal census" system introduced earlier in the day allowed electors to vote at any given polling station.


2017 Catalan independence referendum
Catalan government officials have argued that the turnout would have been higher were it not for Spanish and Catalan police suppression of the vote. On the other hand, most voters who did not support Catalan independence did not turn out, as the constitutional political parties asked citizens not to participate in what they considered an illegal referendum. Additionally, numerous cases of voters casting their votes several times or with lack of identification were reported, and the counting process and the revision of the census were not performed with quality standards ensuring impartiality.


2017 Catalan independence referendum
In the days leading to the referendum, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia ordered police forces to impede the use of public premises for the imminent voting. However, on the day of the referendum, the inaction of part of the autonomous police force of Catalonia, the Mossos d'Esquadra, allowed many polling stations to open. The National Police Corps and the Guardia Civil intervened and raided several polling stations after they opened. 893 civilians and 111 agents of the National Police and the Guardia Civil were reported to have been injured.


2017 Catalan independence referendum
According to various sources these previously reported figures may have been exaggerated. According to the judge from Barcelona who is currently investigating the accusations of police violence, there were 218 persons injured on that day in the city of Barcelona alone, 20 of whom were agents. According to the official final report by the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut) of the Generalitat 1066 civilians, 11 agents of the National Police and the Guardia Civil and 1 agent of the regional police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, were injured.


2017 Catalan independence referendum
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, urged the Spanish government to prove all acts of violence that took place to prevent the referendum. The police action also received criticism from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch which defined it as an "excessive and unnecessary use of force". Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena stated Puigdemont ignored the repeated warnings he received about the escalation of violence if the referendum was held.


2017 Catalan independence referendum
Mossos d'Esquadra are being investigated for disobedience, for allegedly not having complied with the orders of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia. Including Josep Lluís Trapero Álvarez, the Mossos d'Esquadra major, who is being investigated for sedition by the Spanish National Court. Mossos d'Esquadra deny those accusations and allege they obeyed the orders but applied the principle of proportionality, which is required by Spanish law in all police operations.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background
The ballot was initially scheduled for no later than 17 September 2017, a result of an election pledge made by pro-independence parties ahead of the 2015 Catalan election (during the previous legislature, the Catalan government had held a non-binding "citizen participation process" about the question).


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background
The election resulted in a minority government for the Junts pel Sí coalition (JxSí), which had won a plurality of MPs (62 of the 135 seats), plus conditional support from the 10 CUP-CC MPs. Shortly after the government was formed, it resolved to hold a referendum on independence.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background
On 24 January 2017, the Government of Catalonia held a privately organised conference in one of the rooms of the European Parliament in its Brussels headquarters. The event, entitled "The Catalan Referendum", was promoted by Carles Puigdemont, President, Oriol Junqueras, Vice President, and Raül Romeva. It was attended by 500 people, among whom were MEPs, diplomats and journalists from the international media.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Organisation
The Catalan government's decree officially calling the referendum was expected to be approved in the second half of August but was approved only on 6 September.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Organisation
Shortly after the referendum was announced, attention focused on the issue of the ballot boxes, since the government of Spain is in charge of providing them, whereas for this non-state-sanctioned vote, the government of Catalonia would have to put them in place, potentially risking prosecution for the misuse of public funds. It is still unclear who bought them. The Catalan government opened a bidding process to buy them but no offers were presented. Cristóbal Montoro, the Spanish Minister of the Treasury, assured that the ballot boxes were not paid for with public money and some media reported they were finally bought by an individual whose identity remains unknown.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Organisation
Tendering by the Catalan government for materials such as ballot papers and envelopes for a putative regional election in the region were thought by some to be an attempt to covertly organise the referendum. On 24 March, the Spanish Public Prosecutor's Office in Catalonia had already announced an inquiry to determine whether a referendum is in the planning.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Organisation
In terms of its organisation, the electoral roll is one of the main points in contention, since this is managed by the National Institute of Statistics, an autonomous organisation placed under the jurisdiction of the government of Spain. To access its data, polls must have been authorised by the Spanish Congress. Without an undisputed access to the electoral roll, the results may be deemed unreliable. Similar difficulties could be met when it comes to the electoral commission to be formed for monitoring the polling and results.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Organisation
By April 2017, the Catalan government had already received 5 judicial notices warning about the criminal liabilities they were exposed to if they continued the preparation of the referendum, as the constitutional court previously declared illegal any official budget allocation.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Organisation
An official announcement by the government of Catalonia suggested that Catalan residents overseas willing to vote would have to register. By the end of June 2017, out of 285,000 Catalans living abroad and eligible to vote, 5,000 had registered.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Tensions within the Catalan government
On 3 July 2017, President Puigdemont sacked his Minister for Enterprise, Jordi Baiget, who, in the face of the legal challenges, had just expressed doubts regarding the referendum taking place as envisioned by the Catalan government.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Tensions within the Catalan government
Then, on 14 July, Puigdemont proceeded with a cabinet reshuffle, replacing three additional ministers in his cabinet (the ones responsible for presidency, education, and interior) in a move widely seen as a removal of the remaining hesitant voices within his cabinet in regards to the referendum issue.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Tensions within the Catalan government
On 17 July, the chief of the Catalan police, called Mossos d'Esquadra, resigned without giving any reason. The Catalan police force is seen as key to enforcing any court orders sought by the central government challenging the secession vote.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Tensions within the Catalan government
Additional isolated resignations and dismissals have been noted among some of the high-level civil servants potentially playing a role with the vote's organisation.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Scope
When the Spanish Constitutional Court suspended the law on the referendum on 7 September 2017, it forbade several Catalan office holders, the Catalan media, as well as the 948 municipalities of Catalonia to participate in the preparation of the referendum. The municipalities were instructed to reply within 48 hours whether they intended to comply or not. Out of 726 municipalities that answered, 682 announced that they would support the referendum anyway, 41 announced they would refuse to support it, and three, including the municipality of Barcelona, answered without making their intentions clear.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Scope
Among those that refused to support the referendum, however, there are large population centers, such as the provincial capitals of Lleida (140,000 inhabitants) and Tarragona (130,000 inhabitants) or the cities of Terrassa (215,000 inhabitants) and Hospitalet de Llobregat (250,000 inhabitants) governed by PSC mayors. The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, while refusing to make a statement whether the municipality of Barcelona would provide logistical support to the referendum or not, strongly criticised the "language of testosterone" and the pressure that she said was being exerted on the municipalities. Nevertheless, she announced that she would do anything possible to allow those in Barcelona who wished to vote to do so.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Scope
The Catalan government financed advertisement for the referendum in the regional public television and radio, in spite of a legal notice against such actions by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia. No campaign for the No-side was organized, as no party opposing independence participated in the referendum nor wanted to legitimize it. In a few locations, fake posters with the logos of the main opposition parties and asking to vote No were reported.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Police operation to stop the referendum
On 20 September 2017, following orders of the trial court number 13, the Spanish Civil Guard started Operation Anubis. During the first day, the police officers raided different headquarters of the Government of Catalonia and arrested  14 senior officials involved in the preparation of the referendum. Simultaneously, several printing companies were searched for ballot papers and ballot boxes. Crowds gathered around the regional ministries to support the arrested staff and later on several pro-independence organisations, including the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Police operation to stop the referendum
A crowd of more than 40,000 people heeded the call made by Òmnium Cultural and ANC and surrounded the Catalan economy department, preventing the exit of the Civil Guard agents. Demonstrators vandalised three vehicles of the Civil Guard and their occupants were forced to flee into the Economy Department building, a court clerk remained trapped until midnight inside the building and had to flee by the roof, while several agents were trapped throughout the night as demonstrators shouted outside "You won't get out!". The damages in the vehicles (3 Nissan Patrol) accounted for 135,632 €. The Civil Guard agents cornered into the building made 6 calls for help to the autonomous police force of Catalonia, Mossos d'Esquadra, which were ignored. The first request for help was at 9:14 am with the subject: "Urgent – Request for support to Mossos".


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Police operation to stop the referendum
Both Mossos d'Esquadra Major Josep Lluís Trapero Álvarez and Barcelona Intendant Teresa Laplana Cocera were charged with sedition because of the role played by the regional police. Trapero stated that the mossos weren't warned with enough time and that the demonstration was peaceful. Two Catalan pro-independence leaders Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart (Assemblea Nacional Catalana and Òmnium Cultural, respectively) were sent to prison without bail by Spain's National Court. They are being investigated for alleged crimes of sedition for their role in organising these massive protests aimed at hindering the Civil Guard investigation.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Police operation to stop the referendum
On 20 September morning, Jordi Sànchez called for "peaceful resistance" to the police operation through social media. The investigating judge stated that the leaders did not call for "peaceful demonstration but to the protection of Catalan officials through 'massive citizens' mobilisations" and that Jordi Sànchez, on top of a vehicle, encouraged the demonstrators with expressions such as "no one goes home, it will be a long and intense night". According to the judge the actions of Sànchez and Cruixat are into the scope of sedition, a felony regulated by the article 544 and subsequents of the Spanish Criminal Code:


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Police operation to stop the referendum
Conviction for sedition shall befall those who, without being included in the felony of rebellion, public and tumultuously rise up to prevent, by force or outside the legal channels, application of the laws, or any authority, official corporation or public officer from lawful exercise of the duties thereof or implementation of the resolutions thereof, or of administrative or judicial resolutions.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Police operation to stop the referendum
A video uploaded to Twitter shows Cuixart y Sànchez on top of one of the vandalized Guardia civil cars on that night saying "Above all... We ask that you dissolve this demonstration, as best as you can, very calmly, today, in a few minutes". According to the source this happened around 11:00 pm and would contradict one of the arguments used by the investigating judge. Amnesty International considered "pre-trial detention" excessive in this case and called for "immediate release" of Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Police operation to stop the referendum
In the following days, the Spanish Civil Guard and the Spanish National Police were reinforced with police officers from the rest of Spain, which are expected to reach 16,000 police and military police officers distributed in different Catalan cities on 1 October 2017 and would continue to carry out searches in companies that allegedly had referendum ballots or ballot boxes. This would spark multiple protest demonstrations all across Catalonia, including cacerolazos during the night. Demonstrations "in defense of the right to decide of the Catalans" were held in several cities in Spain, though few people attended. On the other hand, demonstrations were held throughout Spain in which thousands of people protested against the referendum and the agents were acclaimed by the crowds in numerous cities of Spain when they left for Catalonia.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Police operation to stop the referendum
A conference named Referendum yes or yes that was going to be held in Vitoria-Gasteiz on 15 September was forbidden by the courts after a request from the Spanish government. The speakers, including the pro-independence deputy Anna Gabriel, disobeyed the ruling and tried to hold the conference anyway, but the room where it was taking place was evicted by the police five minutes after starting. One year later, the same court recognized there were no reasons to suspend the conference.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Background, Police operation to stop the referendum
In the days previous to the referendum, the Spanish civil guard shut down more than 140 websites following a court order issued by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, including the official one from the Catalan government and the main site of the Catalan civil organization ANC. That involved sending requests — and sometimes, directly sending the Guardia Civil — to major Spanish telecom operators offices, domain providers, the dotCat Foundation and Google, in this particular case to remove an app from Google Play that included information on polling stations. This situation was denounced by Internet-related organizations from around the world including Internet Society, APC, EFF, The Tor Project and Xnet.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Administration
The Catalan Government announced it planned to hold the referendum on 1 October 2017. The Electoral Commission of Catalonia was responsible for overseeing the referendum, but it was dissolved on 22 September 2017 after the Constitutional Court announced that otherwise they would be fined between €6,000 and €12,000 per day. The campaign was planned to last 15 days, spanning from 00:00 on 15 September 2017 to 24:00 on 29 September 2017.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Administration
According to the Catalan government, the following people were entitled to vote in the referendum:


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Administration, Question
The question of the referendum was asked "Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic? ".


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Administration, International observers
The referendum was attended by several international observers. The first accredited international observers, led by The Hague Center for Strategic Studies, were headed by Daan Everts and consisted of 20 observers from the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France and Poland, among others. The second international mission, called the International Electoral Expert Research Team, was headed by Helena Catt and consisted of 17 observers from the United Kingdom, France, Ireland and New Zealand, among others. There was also a delegation of 33 parliamentarians and politicians, called the International Parliamentary Delegation on Catalonia's Referendum on Self-Determination 1 October 2017, from political parties in Slovakia, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Republic of Macedonia, Monaco, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Administration, International observers
Of these international observers, those summoned by Diplocat are not recognised by the UN as such in not recognising this Diplocat as an international observer.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Administration, International observers
Due to some alleged irregularities and to the actions taken by the national police and civil guard, the international observers, invited by the Generalitat, declared that the referendum results could not be considered valid as the process failed to meet the minimum international standards for elections. They also criticized the police violence.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Pre-result responses, Domestic
In Spain, the upcoming illegal referendum gathered overall little voiced support beyond regional organizations of nationalist ideology, including a few nationalist-controlled regional parliaments:


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Pre-result responses, UN member states
Most official country representatives stated that the referendum was an internal matter of Spain and some called for political dialogue:


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Opinion polls, On 1 October 2017 referendum
Pollsters generally started using the proposed referendum question ("Do you want Catalonia to be an independent state in the form of a republic?") after it was revealed in early June 2017.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Opinion polls, On 1 October 2017 referendum
The Centre for Opinion Studies (Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió, CEO) polled respondents on their intentions rather than asking them the actual referendum question. In its March 2017 poll, aside from asking respondents whether they would want Catalonia to become an independent state, it asked their intents in the event of a referendum on the independence of Catalonia being called and organised by the Government of Catalonia without agreement from the Spanish Government. In a July 2017 poll a similar question was proposed, with the difference that it asked about the actual 1 October referendum.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Opinion polls, On 1 October 2017 referendum, Certain to vote
(Note: voters who were not willing to vote were primarily those opposed to independence and/or a referendum being held, so support for independence among those who were certain to vote was expected to be high.)


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Results, Overall
Question: "Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?"


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Results, Overall
The Catalan government estimated that polling stations representing up to 770,000 potential voters—14.5% of all registered voters—were closed down by police in raids, with any votes cast in those stations either seized, lost or inaccessible and therefore not counted. Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull argued that turnout would have been higher were it not for Spanish police suppression. Catalan government officials argued that calculation by experts showed that without police pressure and closures, turnout could have reached up to 55%.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Results, Overall
Earlier in the day, a universal census was introduced, so any Catalan elector going out to vote could do so at any one of the still functioning polling stations. Notorious examples of this included President Puigdemont himself—who voted in Cornellà del Terri instead of Sant Julià de Ramis where he was registered to vote, foiling a police operation to track him down along the way—or Parliament of Catalonia Speaker Carme Forcadell.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Results, Alleged irregularities
Due in part to the deactivation and repeated blocking by the police of the computer programs used to implement universal census and result reporting, some alleged irregularities were reported by Spanish media during the celebration of the referendum. Among them, people recorded voting more than once, votes made by non-Catalan people not included in the census or images of people voting several times, including journalists. Other media reported the system did not validate the second attempt when voting, but it couldn't be confirmed that this system worked during the whole process.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Results, Alleged irregularities
The Catalan government was not allowed to use the same ballot boxes used in other elections and referendums because they are owned by the Spanish government, so different ballot boxes were used, those were described as translucent by some media and opaque by some others in contrast to the transparent ballot boxes used in elections. Ballots and ballot boxes were transported together, which according to Spanish media raised doubts about whether those ballots were removed or not prior to the vote.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Results, Alleged irregularities
Another controversial footage shows ballot boxes placed in the street, where any person could submit their vote without census control. According to a Catalan newspaper, a volunteer declared that it was "a symbolic vote" in Ramon i Cajal school, Barcelona, after Spanish police removed the ballot boxes at another nearby polling station.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Results, Alleged irregularities
There was no electoral board as it dissolved itself on 22 September to avoid being fined by the Constitutional Court and the counting system was blocked by the Guardia civil following orders from the Catalan High Court Justice. Guardia Civil also shut down a WordPress.com blog which alleged to be used as a voting system in the referendum, the Catalan government said they didn't know about its existence.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Results, Alleged irregularities
The Spanish Government denounced that the rules of the referendum that were changed 45 minutes before opening. The new rules included the universal census according to which any citizen could vote in any voting center even if it was not the one originally assigned. They also accepted the use of non-official ballots printed at home and made optional the requirement of using envelopes.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Results, Controversy over the results
The publication of the results generated controversy both for the lack of basic electoral warranties, as for the lack of coherence between the results that were published after 95% of the votes had been tallied and the official results published five days later.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Results, Controversy over the results
One analyst said that the large pro-independence vote (90% by official estimates) could actually be a sign that many people did not vote at all, and that the referendum lacked the conditions for fairness.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Results, Controversy over the results
In 71 municipalities the number of "yes" votes tallied were more than the number of registered voters for those municipalities, which could be partly explained by the "universal census" system introduced earlier in the day allowing people to vote in a different poll station than the one they were assigned.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Results, Controversy over the results
The Civil Guard delivered a report to the Spanish High Court with recordings of conversations that allegedly demonstrate that "the results of the referendum were decided in the days leading up to its holding".


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Results, Controversy over the results
In the elections of December 2017 called by Spanish Prime Minister, parties supporting independence got 47.5% of the votes, but due to the high level of participation that was 33,970 more votes than 'Yes' votes were cast during the referendum.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath
On 3 October 2017, Carles Puigdemont said that his government intends to act on the result of the referendum "at the end of this week or the beginning of next" and declare independence from Spain. Puigdemont would go before the Catalan Parliament to address them on Monday 9 October 2017, pending the agreement of other political parties. The same day, the King of Spain, Felipe VI, condemned the repeated acts of the government of Catalonia against the existing legal framework and appealed to the union Spain, calling the situation "extremely serious".


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath
On 4 October 2017, Mireia Boya, a lawmaker of the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), announced that a declaration of independence would likely come after the parliamentary session on 9 October.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath
On 5 October, Banco Sabadell, the second-largest bank based in Catalonia, announced its decision to move its legal headquarters out of the region amid economic uncertainty over the future of Catalonia's political situation ahead of a projected unilateral declaration of independence the ensuing week, which had seen sharp falls in the group's share prices the previous day and rating agencies downgrading the region. Concurrently, CaixaBank, the biggest bank in the region and the third largest in Spain, also announced it was considering redomiciling outside Catalonia.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath
This sparked a massive business exit in the ensuing hours, with companies such as Abertis, Gas Natural, Grifols, Fersa Energias Renovables, Agbar, Freixenet, Codorníu, Idilia Foods, San Miguel Beer and Planeta Group also announcing or considering their intention to move their HQs out of Catalonia. The Spanish government announced on Friday 6 October that it would issue a decree allowing companies based in Catalonia to move out of the region without holding a shareholders' meeting. On 11 October, Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art announced that it was repatriating its collection of Art & Language works on loan at Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) since 2010. Within two weeks, more than 1,000 business and firms would move out of Catalonia.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath
On 7 October, tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in Madrid and Barcelona dressed in white and without flags with the slogan 'Shall we talk? ', asking for a deescalation of the political conflict. On 8 October, the largest demonstration against Catalan independence in recent Spanish history took place in Barcelona, the local police estimating at about 400,000 the number of participants. Former president of the European Parliament Josep Borrell, Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa and several representatives of the opposition parties in the Catalan parliament delivered speeches against the independence process.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath
According to Swiss national radio, the Foreign Ministry of Switzerland has offered to mediate between the two sides in the crisis. However, on 16 October 2017 the Foreign Ministry of Switzerland released a press note declaring that no formal offer was made, also stating that the independent aspirations in Catalonia are an internal affair of Spain and should be resolved within its constitutional order. It also made clear that Switzerland fully respects Spanish Sovereignty and that in any case any facilitation of the process could only take place in case that both sides requested it.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
The Spanish police and Guardia Civil mounted operations to close the polling stations. The security forces met resistance from citizens who obstructed their access to the voting tables; in Sant Julia de Ramis, where Puigdemont was expected to vote, they were joined by Corps of Firefighters of Catalonia members who formed a "human shield" separating the police from civilians to help obstruct their access to the polling station. The police used force to try to reach the voting tables, in some cases using batons against firefighters and civilians, and dragged some of them away. The police made multiple charges.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
In some other incidents the security forces were surrounded and driven out by the crowds. According to the Ministry of the Interior, rubber bullets (balls) were only used against demonstrators in one of those incidents in the Barcelona's Eixample district. There were incidents at polling stations in Barcelona, Girona and elsewhere; the police forced entry to the premises, ejected the occupants and seized ballot boxes, some of them containing votes.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
The Spanish government endorsed the police actions ordered by the regional high court. Carles Puigdemont accused Spanish authorities of "unjustified, disproportionate and irresponsible violence" and showing a "dreadful external image of Spain" while Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch criticized what they called "excessive and unnecessary use of force" by the National Police and the Civil Guard. The Spanish Coordinator for Prevention against Torture defined the police action as a "repression laboratory". Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena stated Puigdemont ignored the repeated warnings he received about the escalation of violence if the referendum was held.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
According to El País, after the first reports of violence, the government canceled the order given to the security forces, which pulled out early from the polling centers. Catalan Ombudsman Rafael Ribó, said there was evidence Angela Merkel asked Mariano Rajoy to stop police violence.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
Various images and reports used to magnify the claims of police violence were circulated but were later found to be inaccurate or photoshopped, and reports argued later that such posts, as well as conspiracy theories, had been amplified through the same network of social network profiles that had earlier promoted alt-right and pro-Putin views during earlier elections in Western countries. A Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) councillor accused the police of deliberately breaking her fingers one by one and of sexual abuse during a polling station evacuation, but later investigation disproved these statements.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
A real picture of an elderly woman bleeding in the head as a consequence of a police charge was chosen as one of the "Bloomberg's 100 photos of the 2017". The Spanish Ministry of the Interior instructed the Spanish Attorney General to investigate whether the accusations of police sexual abuse against protesters made by Mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau, who had mentioned the councilor's statements, could be considered a legal offense of slander against Spanish Law enforcement organisations.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
According to the judge, there were 218 persons injured on that day in the city of Barcelona alone, 20 of whom were agents. According to various sources previously reported figures for civilians and police may have been exaggerated. According to the Generalitat de Catalunya, 844 people requested the services of the Catalan emergency health service, this number includes people with irritation by gas and anxiety attacks. Of those injured, most were minor, but four people were hospitalised by the emergency health service and of those, two were in serious condition, one due to impact from a rubber ball in the eye in the protests, the other for unrelated causes.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
There was a police charge near school Ramon Llull. When police officers tried to enter inside the polling station, voters responded with a sit-in protest to block their way in. Few minutes later more anti-riot police was deployed in the zone and they could find the way in after breaking the polling station door. Police officers confiscated the ballot boxes, some of them with votes inside. In their way out, voters blocked the passage of the police cars standing or sitting in front of the police vehicles.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
Some of them harassing and throwing fences, umbrellas and other objects against the agents, among them the man who was subsequently injured in the eye. The agents responded shooting rubber balls. The man injured by the rubber ball lost the vision in one eye and he sued 3 members of the Spanish National Police, adducing that one shot him directly to his face.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
One witness, the journalist who recorded the images, testified he saw that a police officer pointed and shot horizontally, directly against demonstrators at a distance not exceeding 15 meters, hitting and injuring the man in the eye, which can be seen in the footage; according to four witnesses, there was no unrest at the moment the police charge and shots took place. 13 police officers are being investigated for their actions in that polling station, even though the agent that shot the rubber bullet has not been identified yet.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
Initially, the Ministry of the Interior said 431 agents were injured, 39 of them requiring immediate medical treatment and the remaining 392 having injuries from bruises, scrapes, kicks and/or bites. After a question from Basque senator Jon Iñarritu some months later, the Spanish Ministry of the Interior recognised that the number was much lower and stated that the number of police officers injured was 111. During the hearings of the trial of Catalonia independence leaders in February 2019, Saenz de Santamaría reduced that figure further to 93, down from the initial 400.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
In a document given to the judge investigating the police action during the day of the referendum in Barcelona, Spanish police reported around 40 injuries, including officers who acted in Girona and Sabadell, which include a "trauma on a finger", a "twisted foot" and a "nose scratch". The Police didn't provide medical reports for some of them and didn't explain how they were produced.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
The Mossos d'Esquadra have been accused of failing to execute the direct order issued by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia and not closing the voting centers before the voting commenced, or not confiscating voting materials on the day of the poll.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
According to the final report by the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut) of the Generalitat, there were 1,066 people attended by the Catalan hospitals in connection with the Catalan Referendum: 966 on 1 October 2017 and 75 during 2–4 October. According to the severity, the reports indicates that 886 (=823+63) were categorised as mild, 173 (=163+10) as moderate and 7 (=5+2) as severe. On 20 October 2017, the last injured person left the hospital. Regarding the age distribution: 10,4% of them were elderly people (>65 years old) and 23 of them were over 79 years old.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
Also, 2.1% were underage, including 2 children under 11 years old. This figures include 12 police officers: 9 Policía Nacional, 2 Guardia Civil and 1 Mossos d'Esquadra. The Catalan Health Officer is planning to sue the Partido Popular general coordinator, Mr Fernando Martínez-Maillo, for his qualification as a "great farce" of the total number of injured persons.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
On 19 February 2018, in the hearing for the injuries in the village of Castellgalí, a Guardia Civil policeman testified before the judge that he only found passive resistance, thus contradicting a Spanish police statement, which claimed that violence, kicks and spitting took place at that location.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Violence and injuries
According to a 2020 study, the crackdown by the Spanish state on Catalan activists "increased public sympathy for independence for a short period, and heightened animosity towards actors perceived to be associated or complicit with the Spanish state."


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Economic effects
As of August 2017 the spread between Spanish 10-year government debt and German bonds was close to its narrowest in seven years; however, since the start of July the yield on the Catalan regional government's bonds had jumped by about 50 basis points, signaling unease among investors in regards to the referendum issue.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Economic effects
Stratfor suggested financial market disruption is due to the political upheaval. Predrag Dukic, senior equity sales trader at CM Capital Markets Bolsa, wrote: "The independence movement seeks to paralyze the region with strikes, disobedience, etc., a nightmare scenario for what until yesterday seemed a strong Spanish economic recovery." Markus Schomer, chief global economist at PineBridge Investments, suggested that the uncertainty both in and outside of Spain has made it hard to price the scenarios into final markets so far.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Economic effects
Further he commented a strong approval could result in a euro −0.0255% sell off, just as in the aftermath of the German federal election the previous week. "I don't think there is an immediate change coming from that referendum. It'll take quite a bit longer to assess where this is going and what this will mean, how the EU will react, how the Spanish government will react. So I don't think you'll see people adjusting their portfolios on Monday, but you could get the classic knee-jerk, risk-off reaction."


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Political effect
On 10 October in a speech in front of the Catalan parliament Puigdemont stated that he considered the referendum results to be valid and in consequence used the following wording: "I assume the mandate of the people for Catalonia to become an independent state in the shape of a republic", before adding that he would "ask Parliament to suspend the effects of the declaration of independence".


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Political effect
In response the Central government made a formal request for him to answer before the Monday 16 October 2017 if he declared independence asking specifically for yes or no answer clarifying that any answer different than a "no" would be interpreted as a "yes". Along with the formal request there was also an offer from the central government negotiated with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party to evaluate the situation of Catalonia within Spain and to study possible reforms, if needed, to the Spanish Constitution.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Political effect
On 16 October 2017 Puigdemont gave a response that did not address the issue of whether or not there had been a declaration of independence. this triggered a second deadline of 10 am on Thursday 19 October for them to backtrack before direct rule was imposed. The Spanish government subsequently offered to abort the suspension of self-rule if the Catalan government called for regional elections. The response from Puigdemont to the second deadline was again not clear. Since he refused to abandon his independence push, on 21 October the Spanish government initiated the implementation of article 155 of the Spanish constitution.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Political effect
On 27 October 2017, the Parliament of Catalonia unilaterally declared independence from Spain. The proposal presented by the pro-independence political parties Junts pel Sí and Popular Unity Candidacy was approved with 70 votes in favor 10 against and 2 blank votes. 55 MPs from the opposition refused to be present during the voting after the legal services of the Catalan Parliament advised that the voting could not take place as the law in which it was based had been suspended by the Constitutional Court.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Political effect
Within hours, the Spanish Senate approved actions proposed by the Spanish government to invoke Article 155 and assume direct control over some of Catalonia's autonomous powers. The measure was passed with 214 votes in favour, 47 against and 1 abstention. The measure is intended to be temporary; its claimed objective being to "re-establish the rule of law" and restore autonomy after new elections. The first measures taken by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy after the approval by the senate was to fire the Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and his cabinet, dissolving the Parliament of Catalonia and scheduling fresh Catalan elections on 21 December 2017.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Aftermath, Political effect
On 16 January 2018, the Spanish Constitutional Court issued a temporary restraining order regarding the work of the Catalan Government commission that investigates the violation of fundamental rights in Catalonia.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Press coverage and Internet
Different sources describe aspects of the events differently according to their political stance. Notable examples include the coverage of Spanish TV channel TVE (Televisión Española) and Catalan channel TV3. TV3 covered the referendum and the police violence regularly while TVE mainly emphasised the Spanish government's position on its legality. TVE media coverage was criticised by Televisión Española information council, calling for the resignation of the entire direction. TV3 has been criticized both within and outside Catalonia as a mouthpiece for the independence movement.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Press coverage and Internet
Various media reported on fake images of police violence against civilians that were posted in social networks. They included images of people injured in other events, including footage from strikes and anti-austerity protests 4–5 years prior, Turkish police charges and protests by miners. The news sites Okdiario and Periodista Digital were also accused of falsely trying to discredit some of those involved in police violence episodes.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Press coverage and Internet
Some non-Spanish media outlets have criticized the Mariano Rajoy's government, police violence against civilians or Spain's media coverage, including The Guardian, The Independent, Al-Jazeera, The Daily Telegraph, and The New York Times.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, Press coverage and Internet
The Spanish newspaper El País argued that "the network of fake-news producers that Russia has employed to weaken the United States and the European Union is now operating at full speed on Catalonia", involving a network of Russian media outlets and social network bots which, according to the argument, aimed to influence local and global discussion of events. Later investigations by Medium-DFRL said it found support for some but not all of the arguments made by Spanish outlets. It is argued that the goal wasn't specifically to support Catalan independence but to "foment divisions to gradually undermine Europe's democracy and institutions" and at discrediting Spanish legal and political authorities, while Russian authorities have denied that Russian actors had any involvement.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, In popular culture
Several documentaries have been made about the day of the referendum, the most important ones being 1-O produced by Mediapro and El primer dia d'octubre produced by La Directa and released for free in YouTube.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, In popular culture
Many books about the topic were published as well, including Operació urnes ("Operation Ballot Boxes"), explaining how the ballot boxes were distributed around Catalonia, and Dies que duraran anys ("Days That Will Last for Years"), a photo book by Jordi Borràs. Those two being the first and the third top-sellers in the category of non-fiction in Catalan language during the Diada de Sant Jordi of 2018.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, In popular culture
Several Catalan groups also composed songs specially dedicated to that day, including Agafant l'horitzó (Catching the horizon) by Txarango and Rojos y separatistas (Red and separatists) by Lágrimas de Sangre. Some international groups used images from the police violence during the day of the referendum in their concerts and music videos, including A Sound of Thunder and Steven Patrick Morrissey.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, In popular culture
On 15 June, the exhibition 55 Ballot Boxes for Freedom opened in Brussels, with artwork inspired by the ballot boxes of the Catalan referendum.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, In popular culture
Netflix used images from the police action during the day of the referendum to promote Black Mirror series in Spain.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, In 2020–2021
In February 2020, the Catalan nationalist-led government and the Spanish left-wing coalition government agreed to start a dialogue on Catalonia's political future. Included in Catalan nationalists' two points was a retroactive legalization of the 2017 independence referendum. The central government's plan aims rather at a negotiation on the region's financial and political autonomy within the current legal framework. Fifteen representatives began talks with a discussion of the history of the Catalan crisis.


2017 Catalan independence referendum, In 2020–2021
Despite disagreement on when it began, the two sides concurred that their common political opponent, the People's Party, bore the overall responsibility in its fight against the Statute of Autonomy. It was agreed that negotiations would continue, with plans for monthly meetings and plenary sessions every six months, although this has been followed by a continued internal conflict within the nationalist parties, a fraction of which wishes no dialogue beyond a new legally binding referendum. The COVID-19 pandemic cancelled these plans, which may resume in September 2021.


2017 Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix
The 2017 Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix was the seventh round of the 2017 MotoGP season. It was held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló on June 11, 2017.


2017 Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix, Championship standings after the race, MotoGP
Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round seven has concluded.


2017 Catalan regional election
The 2017 Catalan regional election was held on Thursday, 21 December 2017 to elect the 12th Parliament of the autonomous community of Catalonia. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was called by Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy after the invocation of Article 155 of the 1978 Spanish Constitution to enforce direct rule in Catalonia and the subsequent dismissal of the Catalan government under President Carles Puigdemont. The three pro-Catalan independence parties won a slim majority of parliamentary seats, claiming 70 out of 135, but fell short of a majority in the popular vote by securing 47.6% of the share.


2017 Catalan regional election
Pro -Catalan independence parties maintained their parliamentary majority at the 2015 election, although then-President Artur Mas and his Junts pel Sí (JxSí) coalition—made up primarily by Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) and Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC)—required from the support from Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) to govern. The CUP's decision to vote against Mas's led to his withdrawal and to the election of Carles Puigdemont, until then mayor of Girona, as leader of a CDC–ERC coalition government. Shortly thereafter, CDC was re-founded as Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT).


2017 Catalan regional election
On 27 October 2017, following the controversial referendum on 1 October, the pro-independence majority in the Catalan parliament voted in favour of a unilateral declaration of independence, just hours before the Spanish Senate voted to invoke Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution. This allowed Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to sack the Catalan government and dissolve the Catalan parliament, calling a regional election for 21 December. With 36 seats, the main anti-independence party, Citizens (Cs), emerged as the largest in the Parliament.


2017 Catalan regional election
The Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) performed well below expectations and increased its seat count by one, whereas Catalunya en Comú–Podem, a left-wing party in favor of self-governance for the region but not siding itself with either bloc, received 7.5% of the vote and 8 seats. Owing to the combined performance of Puigdemont's Together for Catalonia (JuntsxCat) and ERC, parties in support of independence maintained their majority in the election, meaning that it was mathematically possible for a pro-independence coalition government to return to power, despite their overall majority having been reduced by two seats.


2017 Catalan regional election
The biggest election loser was Rajoy's People's Party (PP), whose electoral collapse—reduced to 4.2% of the share and 4 out of 135 seats—meant it would be unable to form a parliamentary group of its own in the Catalan parliament for the first time in history. The scale of PP's downfall, coupled with the success of Cs, threatened to have a political impact beyond Catalonia, with PP leaders fearing it could spell the end of the party's hegemony over the centre-right vote in Spain.


2017 Catalan regional election, Overview, Electoral system
The Parliament of Catalonia was the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Catalonia, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Catalan Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a regional president.


2017 Catalan regional election, Overview, Electoral system
As a result of no regional electoral law having been approved since the re-establishment of Catalan autonomy, the electoral procedure came regulated under Transitory Provision Fourth of the 1979 Statute, supplemented by the provisions within the Organic Law of General Electoral Regime. Voting for the Parliament was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in Catalonia and in full enjoyment of their political rights. Additionally, Catalans abroad were required to apply for voting before being permitted to vote, a system known as "begged" or expat vote (Spanish: Voto rogado).


2017 Catalan regional election, Overview, Electoral system
The 135 members of the Parliament of Catalonia were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of three percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona, with each being allocated a fixed number of seats: 85 for Barcelona, 17 for Girona, 15 for Lleida and 18 for Tarragona.


2017 Catalan regional election, Overview, Electoral system
The use of the D'Hondt method might result in a higher effective threshold, depending on the district magnitude.


2017 Catalan regional election, Overview, Election date
The term of the Parliament of Catalonia expired four years after the date of its previous election, unless it was dissolved earlier. The regional president was required to call an election fifteen days prior to the date of expiry of parliament, with election day taking place within from forty to sixty days after the call. The previous election was held on 27 September 2015, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 27 September 2019. The election was required to be called no later than 12 September 2019, with it taking place up to the sixtieth day from the call, setting the latest possible election date for the Parliament on Monday, 11 November 2019.


2017 Catalan regional election, Overview, Election date
The president had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of Catalonia and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process and that dissolution did not occur before one year had elapsed since a previous one under this procedure. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Parliament was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called.


2017 Catalan regional election, Background, Government formation
The 2015 election resulted in pro-Catalan independence Junts pel Sí (JxSí) (a coalition comprising the two main centre-right and centre-left Catalan parties at the time, Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) and Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), together with several minor parties) and Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) holding a slim majority of seats, despite not securing a majority of votes as was their objective. President Artur Mas' JxSí coalition also fell short of its goal to secure an absolute majority on its own, obtaining 62 seats against the combined 63 of the remaining opposition parties.


2017 Catalan regional election, Background, Government formation
Thus, Mas found himself depending on CUP's support for securing his nomination to be re-elected to the office. The CUP had difficulty in supporting Mas, whom they viewed as personally tainted by several corruption scandals involving his CDC party. In the end, a last-minute deal was struck between JxSí and the CUP to ensure a pro-independence government under CDC's Carles Puigdemont, narrowly avoiding a new election being called and leading Mas to retire from frontline politics.


2017 Catalan regional election, Background, 2017 events
On 26 October 2017, several weeks after a major crisis had unveiled in Catalonia over the attempted celebration of an unconstitutional independence referendum, it was expected that President Puigdemont would call a snap regional election to prevent the Spanish government from enforcing direct rule in the region, a procedure involving the triggering of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution which was already underway in the Spanish Senate, pending approval on the following day.


2017 Catalan regional election, Background, 2017 events
This move sparked outcry within pro-independence ranks, including members within Puigdemont's coalition, who had aimed for a unilateral declaration of independence in response to the triggering of Article 155. Finally, Puigdemont ruled out calling an election, allegedly because of the Spanish government's refusal to call off the invocation of the Article 155 procedure even were an election to be called by Catalan authorities. After Puigdemont's refusal to call an election, a debate over a possible declaration of independence went ahead as planned in the Parliament of Catalonia, simultaneous to the Senate debating the enforcement of direct rule.


2017 Catalan regional election, Background, 2017 events
At the end of the debate, the Catalan parliament voted a unilateral declaration of independence which was backed 70–10, two MPs casting a blank ballot and all MPs from Citizens (Cs), the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) and the People's Party (PP) boycotting the vote. Once Article 155 was approved, Mariano Rajoy dismissed the entire Catalan government from office and declared the Parliament's dissolution, calling a regional election for 21 December 2017.


2017 Catalan regional election, Background, 2017 events
Puigdemont and part of his removed cabinet fled to Belgium on 30 October in a move to avoid action from the Spanish judiciary, as the Spanish Attorney General José Manuel Maza announced a criminal complaint against them for rebellion, sedition and embezzlement. On 2 November, the Spanish National Court ordered that eight members of the deposed Catalan government—including former Vice President and ERC leader Oriol Junqueras—be remanded in custody without bail after being summoned to appear to respond to the criminal charges pressed against them, with a ninth—Santi Vila—being granted a €50,000 bail. European Arrest Warrants were issued for Puigdemont and his four other cabinet members in Belgium refusing to attend the hearing.


2017 Catalan regional election, Parliamentary composition
The Parliament of Catalonia was officially dissolved on 28 October 2017, after the publication of the dissolution decree in the Official State Gazette. The table below shows the composition of the parliamentary groups in the chamber at the time of dissolution.


2017 Catalan regional election, Parties and candidates
The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.


2017 Catalan regional election, Parties and candidates
Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election:


2017 Catalan regional election, Parties and candidates
After independence was declared by the Parliament of Catalonia on 27 October and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced the Parliament's dissolution and a regional election for 21 December, pro-independence parties debated whether they should contest the election–thus abiding by Spanish law, and acknowledging independence did not take place–or boycott it and thus risk remaining absent from the Parliament in the next legislature.


2017 Catalan regional election, Parties and candidates
On 5 November 2017, the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT) proposed as their election candidate Carles Puigdemont, who in the previous days had already showed interest in leading the PDeCAT into the 21 December election from Belgium. PDeCAT members sought to contest the election into a unitary list formed by pro-independence parties for the right of self-determination and against the use of Article 155, calling for "amnesty of political prisoners". On 13 November, the PDeCAT announced that it would run under the Together for Catalonia umbrella, centered around Puigdemont and including non-party members such as Jordi Sànchez.


2017 Catalan regional election, Parties and candidates
Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) rejected the idea of renewing the Junts pel Sí alliance, and made its participation in any prospective electoral coalition conditional on it including the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) and members from Catalunya Sí que es Pot–in reference to the Podemos branch in Catalonia (Podem), led by Albano Dante Fachin, who had increasingly distanced himself from the party's national leadership. The CUP dubbed the election "illegitimate" and rejected contesting the election under their own brand, but did not rule out running under a different label or supporting a unitary pro-independence alliance. After the CUP ruled out a coalition with other parties on 7 November, ERC rejected a joint candidacy of pro-independence parties and announced it would contest the election on its own.


2017 Catalan regional election, Parties and candidates
Catalunya en Comú, Ada Colau's party successor to the En Comú Podem electoral alliance which contested the 2015 and 2016 general elections in Catalonia, chose Xavier Domènech as its electoral candidate. Domènech proposed an alliance with Podem, which under Fachin had rejected merging into Colau's party earlier in 2017. Podem's grassroots members voted in favour of an alliance with Catalunya en Comú, after Fachin had resigned as regional party leader over disputes with the national leadership. Both parties announced they would contest the election under the Catalunya en Comú–Podem label.


2017 Catalan regional election, Parties and candidates
On 7 November, the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) announced an agreement with Units per Avançar (English: United to Advance), the wing of the defunct party Democratic Union of Catalonia that rejected separatism in 2015, thereby aiming to integrate some of its members in its list and hopefully to add the almost 102,000 votes collected by that party at the previous election, which were not enough to gain representation by themselves. The agreement was refused the status of a proper coalition; hence, PSC ran under its own name only.


2017 Catalan regional election, Opinion polls
The table below lists voting intention estimates in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a given poll. When available, seat projections are also displayed below the voting estimates in a smaller font. 68 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of Catalonia.


2017 Catalan regional election, Aftermath, Initial reactions
The results were announced after polls in the region closed, with Citizens (Cs) becoming the largest party in the regional parliament, but pro-independence parties maintained a majority of seats. Cs gained twelve seats in the election under the leadership of Inés Arrimadas, bringing its total to 36. This meant that the largest party in the region was overtly and directly opposed to independence. This increase in the vote share left it 31 seats short of a majority in the parliament.


2017 Catalan regional election, Aftermath, Initial reactions
Together for Catalonia (JuntsxCat), the party of former president Carles Puigdemont, also saw an increase in its seat total, emerging as the second-largest party in the region with 34 seats. This represented an increase of three seats for the party, which stood on a staunchly pro-independence platform, as dictated by its exiled leader. While the party lost its position as the largest in parliament, the improved performance of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), a left-wing party also campaigning for independence from Spain, helped ensure that JuntsxCat would maintain its dominant role in regional politics.


2017 Catalan regional election, Aftermath, Initial reactions
ERC, under the stewardship of Oriol Junqueras, who served as vice president under Puigdemont, secured 32 seats, leaving the pro-independence parties a mere two seats short of re-establishing a coalition and holding their majority. These seats were provided by the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), which, in spite of a severely diminished performance from the previous election, still held four seats, courtesy of a strong performance in Barcelona. This ensured that pro-independence parties were able to maintain their majority in the parliament. Five independent politicians, who were participants in the Junts pel Sí bloc but not party members, lost their seats. Consequently, despite both JuntsxCat and ERC increasing their number of seats, the majority in the parliament for independence was diminished by two seats, but nonetheless maintained. The result was hailed by Puigdemont as a "slap in the face" for Madrid and for Mariano Rajoy.


2017 Catalan regional election, Aftermath, Government formation
As a result of pro-independence parties securing a parliamentary majority, Arrimadas announced she would not try to form a government on her own, instead waiting and see how negotiations between pro-independence parties evolved. As the candidate of the most-voted party within the pro-independence bloc, Puigdemont intended to be re-elected as president, but this was hampered by the fact he risked being arrested by Spanish authorities upon returning from his self-imposed exile in Brussels, as Spain's authorities considered him a fugitive. Further, pro-independence parties could only command 62 seats—six short of a majority—as in practice eight of their elected deputies were either in Brussels with Puigdemont or in preventive detention.


2017 Catalan regional election, Aftermath, Government formation
One of these was ERC's leader Oriol Junqueras, who aimed at becoming president himself on the grounds that he could be granted prison permits that allowed him to attend parliamentary plenary sessions, whereas Puigdemont would have it near-impossible to be invested from Brussels—Parliament's regulations required for any candidate to the office to be physically present in the investiture—or to rule Catalonia from abroad. Members of JuntsxCat insisted that they would only vote for Puigdemont as president, even if that meant forcing a new election, and claimed that they intended to pressure Mariano Rajoy into allowing Puigdemont's return.


2017 Catalan regional election, Aftermath, Government formation
After the Catalan parliament elected Roger Torrent as new speaker, Puigdemont was proposed as candidate for re-election as Catalan premier. Facing arrest on possible charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds, the Catalan parliament delayed Puigdemont's investiture after Constitutional Court ruled that he could not assume the presidency from abroad.


2017 Catalan regional election, Aftermath, Government formation
With other pro-independence leaders assuring the pro-independence movement should outlive Puigdemont in order to end the political deadlock, the former Catalan president announced on 1 March he would step his claim aside in order to allow detained activist Jordi Sànchez, from his Together for Catalonia alliance, to become president instead. As Spain's Supreme Court did not allow Sànchez to be freed from jail to attend his investiture ceremony, Sànchez ended up giving up his candidacy on 21 March in favour of former Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull, who was also under investigation for his role in the referendum.


2017 Catalan regional election, Aftermath, Government formation
Turull was defeated in the first ballot of a hastily convened investiture session held on 22 March, with only his Together for Catalonia alliance and ERC voting for him and the Popular Unity Candidacy abstaining, resulting in a 64–65 defeat. The next day and less than 24 hours before he was due to attend the second ballot, the Supreme Court announced that thirteen senior Catalan leaders—including Turull—would be charged with rebellion over their roles in the 2017 unilateral referendum and subsequent declaration of independence.


2017 Catalan regional election, Aftermath, Government formation
In anticipation of this ruling and in order to avoid appearing in court, Marta Rovira—ERC's general secretary and deputy leader to jailed Oriol Junqueras—fled the country to Switzerland in "self-exile". This prompted the Court to rule that Turull and several others would be remanded in custody without bail. As a result, the Parliament speaker Roger Torrent cancelled Turull's second investiture ballot. Turull's first ballot nonetheless started the clock towards automatic parliamentary dissolution, meaning a new regional election would be called for 15 July if no candidate was elected as Catalan president before 22 May.


2017 Catalan regional election, Aftermath, Government formation
On 12 May, Quim Torra didn't earn the absolute majority support to be invested president, with 66 votes against 65 in the first round (the absolute majority was 68 votes, from 135 total votes). On 14 May, Torra was elected as new Catalan premier in the second round of vote, with the same results, when only a simple majority was necessary.


2017 Categoría Primera A season
The 2017 Categoría Primera A season (officially known as the 2017 Liga Águila season for sponsorship reasons) was the 70th season of Colombia's top-flight football league. Santa Fe were the defending champions having won the title in the 2016 season's Finalización tournament. The season started on 3 February and concluded on 17 December.


2017 Categoría Primera A season
In the Torneo Apertura, Atlético Nacional won its sixteenth title after beating Deportivo Cali in the finals, while in the Torneo Finalización Millonarios defeated crosstown rivals Santa Fe in the finals to win its fifteenth title.


2017 Categoría Primera A season, Format
The league was played under the same format used since the 2015 season. The Apertura and Finalización tournaments were divided into three stages: a First Stage which was contested on a single round-robin basis, with each team playing the other teams once and playing a regional rival once more for a total of 20 matches.


2017 Categoría Primera A season, Format
The top eight teams after the twenty rounds advanced to a knockout round, where they were pitted into four ties to be played on a home-and-away basis, with the four winners advancing to the semifinals and the winner of each semifinal advancing to the final of the tournament, which was played on a home-and-away basis as well. The winner of the final in each tournament was declared the tournament champion and will participate in the 2018 Copa Libertadores, as well as the top team in the aggregate table not yet qualified and the Copa Colombia champions. The next four best teams in the aggregate table qualified for the 2018 Copa Sudamericana.


2017 Categoría Primera A season, Teams
20 teams took part, eighteen of them returning from last season plus América de Cali and Tigres, who were promoted from the 2016 Primera B. The former returned to the top tier after 5 years while the latter competed in the Primera A for the first time ever. Both promoted teams replaced Boyacá Chicó and Fortaleza who were relegated at the end of the last season.


2017 Categoría Primera A season, Teams, Stadia and locations
a: Played its Torneo Apertura home games at Estadio Álvaro Gómez Hurtado in Floridablanca due to remodeling works at Estadio Alfonso López. b: Temporarily plays its home games at Estadio Pascual Guerrero in Cali since Estadio Doce de Octubre failed to meet league requirements. Cortuluá used the Estadio Francisco Rivera Escobar in Palmira for its home game against Deportes Tolima. c: Deportivo Cali used the Estadio Pascual Guerrero for its home games against Atlético Huila and Cortuluá.