Catalan police

The Catalan police decided to halt the “Cage” operation to locate the separatist former leader of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, who appeared in Barcelona in the morning.

After a lengthy history lesson on the independence campaign, Puigdemont switched from Catalan to Spanish to announce that Catalonia had won the right to independence.

“Catalonia has earned the right to be an independent state and the right to be heard,” Puigdemont said.

“The ballots boxes said yes to independence, and this is the only language we understand.”

 Catalonia's High Court has asked for Spanish national police to provide extra security at the court building in case the Catalan parliament goes ahead with a unilateral declaration of independence, the court said on Monday, quoted by Reuters. 

The King of Spain is to address the nation after thousands of people took to the streets in Catalonia to vent their fury over the violent police crackdown on Sunday’s contested independence referendum.
King Felipe will make a televised statement Tuesday at 9 p.m. local time, a spokesman for the royal household told CNN.

Supporters of Catalan independence began occupying polling stations on Friday, setting up a possible confrontation with police who have been ordered to clear them out by Sunday morning to ensure a referendum cannot go ahead.

The European Commission remained silent on Tuesday (26 September) when confronted with the news that Spanish authorities had shut down websites that provide information about this weekend’s Catalan independence referendum. A vote that Spain still maintains is illegal.

A chance alert by a local tradesman has exposed a terror-linked bomb plot to target banks, French Interior Minister Gérard Collomb has revealed.

Police were called on Wednesday to a flat in the southern Paris suburb of Villejuif, where they found 100g of TATP explosives and chemicals.

Three men have been arrested.

The four remaining alleged members of a terror cell that carried out deadly twin attacks in Spain arrived in a Madrid court on Aug. 22 where they will be grilled by a judge, after eight other suspects were killed.

The hunt for the driver who killed 13 people in last week's attack in Barcelona has been extended across Europe, Catalan officials say, quoted by BBC.

Police say they have now confirmed the driver's identity, but would not reveal his name.

But Catalan official Joaquim Forn told local radio: "Everything suggests the van driver is Younes Abouyaaqoub".

At least one person is confirmed to have died after a van mowed down pedestrians in Barcelona city center and 32 people were injured, 10 of them seriously, Catalan police and the regional interior ministry said.
   
Other media including El Pais said there were at least 10 dead.

A police spokeswoman could not immediately confirm the number of casualties.