Catalonia will declare independence from Spain in a “matter of days”, Carles Puigdemont, the leader of the autonomous region, has said. The referendum was held on Sunday despite being declared illegal by the Spanish government, and saw more than 90.9% voters backing the call for independence.
In an interview to BBC, Puigdemont said Catalan government will act “at the end of this week or the beginning of the next”. When asked what would he do if the Spanish government were to take control of the Catalan government, Puigdemont said, “it would be an error that changes everything”.
Spain’s King Felipe VI on Wednesday said the Catalan leaders had showed “disrespect to the powers of the state”. “Today, the Catalan society is fractured.”
The rift
Tensions between the Spanish central government and Catalonia have been high since the Madrid blocked Barcelona’s planned referendum. On September 6, Puigdemont had signed a decree that called for a “self-determination referendum of Catalonia”. But the next day, Spain’s Constitutional Court suspended the referendum after a legal challenge by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who said it was contrary to the Constitution.
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