Operation Anubis

Europol will look for Carles Puigdemont and hand him to Madrid. The Spanish prosecutor demanded a European arrest warrant for former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont. A request was also made for four other members of the former regional government of the Autonomous Region after they refused to appear in Madrid for questioning.

Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz  de Santamaria takes over the management of the Catalonia area after Madrid took its autonomous status yesterday and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy fired the regional government, the agencies said, reports sega. 

CATALONIA is set to defy any attempt by Madrid to impose direct rule over the region which will see the region's police stand in defiance of control from the Spanish capital, The Daily Express reports.

The Spanish government will not take the unprecedented step of activating Article 155 of the Constitution - which would allow it to take control of certain autonomous powers in Catalonia - should the regional premier, Carles Puigdemont, call early elections in the northeastern Spanish region, El Pais reports.

Two hundred thousand people, some of them with candles in hand, demonstrated on Tuesday evening in Barcelona. The protest is against Monday's arrest of two activists in the struggle for independence of Catalonia, AFP reports. The data on the number people participating in the event is from the municipal police.

Catalonia leader Carles Puigdemont will not respond to the Spanish government's request to clarify what the declaration of independence signed Tuesday evening by regional authorities actually means, said Rasson, quoted by TASS.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said that the government formally asked Catalonia if it had declared independence, after Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont made his first speech on Tuesday following the controversial referendum that took place on October 1.

 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. 

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has delayed his appearance before the region's Parliament, effectively postponing Catalonia's declaration of independence, Talk Radio reported.

Puigdemont had planned to appear before an extraordinary session of the Catalan Parliament on Monday (October 9) where he was expected to unilaterally declare independence.

Catalonia will move on Monday to declare independence from Spain following Oct. 1's banned referendum as the European Union nation nears a rupture that threatens the foundations of its young democracy.