Catalan's independence drive creates real risk of violence: interior minister

Spain's interior minister warned in an interview published yesterday there was a "real" risk that Catalan government's push for independence could degenerate into violence.

"A process of these characteristics, by its very nature, generates radicalism. And all radicalism, in and of itself, is negative," Jorge Fernandez Diaz told conservative daily newspaper ABC.

"Therefore, denying the possibility that this radicalisation, combined with frustration, could degenerate in violence is not a possibility that shouldn't be contemplated.

"I think it is a real risk. We must be vigilant against it, especially of those who with their political initiatives are generating this radicalisation which will likely lead to frustration.

"The combination of radicalisation and frustration is very dangerous."

The head of the Catalan government, Artur Mas, has vowed to step up its secession drive after a symbolic independence referendum last Sunday.

The Catalan government said 2.3 million people in the region of 7.5 million turned out for the vote, which was stripped of legal force after court challenges from Madrid. Of the 5.4 million voters aged over 16 who were authorised to vote, 1.86 million favoured independence, it said.