80% of Catalonia voters support nonviolent secession and independence from Spain.

If the stand-off between the Spanish state and the north-eastern region of Catalonia has been intense for the past five years, 2017 looks set to be explosive.

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont set the tone in a New Year message, saying a planned referendum would go ahead by September. That would defy the Spanish government’s warning that any vote organised by Catalonia’s regional authorities would be illegal.

“If 50% plus one vote ‘yes’, we will declare independence without hesitation,” he said.

Tensions between supporters of independence and Spanish authorities are likely to rise when three senior Catalan ex-officials, including former president Artur Mas, go on trial accused of criminal disobedience for organising a wildcat poll in November 2014.

Spain’s conservative prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, says he is willing to negotiate possible alterations to the relationship between the national and Catalan administrations, but will not discuss changes to Spain’s constitution.

Reposted from the BBC on January 13, 2017.