Catalans Defiant After Spain Dissolves Parliament, Fires Separatist Government

 BARCELONA, Spain — Spain may be taking control of the autonomous region of Catalonia and fired its separatist government — plunging the country and Europe into crisis — but locals are undaunted about what lies ahead.

"Today I'm independent. Today I have no king. Today I have my own country," Rut Carandell Rieradevall, a 51-year-old lawyer, said Saturday. She came to the square in front of the autonomous region's government building to see if Spain's flag had been lowered after Catalan lawmakers passed a declaration of independence Friday. 
Carandell shrugged her shoulders when she saw that the yellow and red banner still waved atop the Generalitat, a government house, alongside Catalonia's red, yellow and blue banner.
"For me, to have no king and have my own country is good enough," said Carandell, on a sunny weekend in Barcelona where tourists mingled with journalists and the hosts of a Catalan cultural festival.
The uncertain future did not make Carandell nervous, even after alleged police brutality injured hundreds during the region's disputed referendum on Oct. 1, when 92 percent of those who voted backed independence. However, overall turnout was under 45 percent.
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"When you know what you want, you aren't scared," Carandell said as she stood with her pet dog, Mato — named after a kind of Catalan cheese.
Catalonia's parliament voted to become an independent republic in a secret poll — a move that followed the referendum on the same subject. Early Saturday, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy not only dissolved the regional parliament and called elections for Dec. 21, he replaced Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont as the decision maker in the wealthy northeastern region. 
The head of Catalonia's regional police was also fired. According to reports, the justice ministry would try and press charges of rebellion against those behind the vote.
The movement for autonomy has waxed and waned in Catalonia, one of Spain's 17 autonomous regions with a distinct culture and language, and an economy equal to around a fifth of the entire country. The movement for independence has caused a constitutional crisis that is the worst since the end of the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco in the 1970s, and has deeply divided opinions in the region. 
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In his hometown of Girona, some 60 miles northeast of Barcelona, Puigdemont addressed the crisis for the first time since Rajoy’s announcement Friday, calling for "patience, perseverance and perspective."
"In a democratic society parliaments are the ones that chose or dismiss presidents," he said in a statement carried by local television. Saying "we will continue working to build a free country," he also called on Catalans to defend the declaration of independence and to hold peaceful protests.