Generalitat de Catalunya

Catalonia is heading to the polls in a snap election to decide the future of the separatist project on Thursday./aljazeera.com/

The dismissed Catalan government, headed by former regional President Carles Puigdemont, declared independence from Spain on October 27.

The Catalan regional parliament has voted to declare independence from Spain, while the Spanish parliament has approved direct rule over the region.

Catalan MPs backed the motion 70-10 in a ballot boycotted by the opposition.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy earlier told senators direct rule was needed to return “law, democracy and stability” to Catalonia.

The ongoing political conflict between the government of Spain and the Generalitat of Catalonia over the issue of Catalan independence has once again proved that referendum could be a dangerous weapon in a democratic structure.

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont kept friends and foes guessing on Wednesday on whether he intends to unilaterally declare independence as the Spanish government prepares to impose direct rule to stop the region breaking away, Reuters reports.

The Spanish government is to suspend Catalonia’s autonomy and impose direct rule after the region’s president refused to abandon the push for independence that has pitched Spain into its worst political crisis for 40 years.

Spain’s Constitutional Court has suspended a session of the Catalan parliament scheduled for Monday in which local leaders were expected to declare Catalonia’s unilateral independence from Spain.
The ruling followed a legal challenge by the Catalan Socialist Party, which opposes secession, according to El Pais newspaper.

Catalonia will proclaim the region's independence from Spain within several days, Catalonia's President Carles Puigdemont told the BBC broadcaster.

According to Puigdemont, the Catalan government will "act at the end of this week or the beginning of next."

Catalonia will declare independence within days, the leader of the autonomous area Carles Puigdemont said in an interview with the BBC, quoted by Reuters.

This move will be a challenge to Madrid and an attempt to fulfill the will expressed by the Catalans in the referendum banned by the Spanish central government on Sunday.

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.

The overwhelming majority of Catalans who participated in the banned referendum have voted in favor of independence from Spain, the Catalan government has announced.