Spain will start the process of suspending Catalonia’s autonomy on Saturday, and impose direct rule after the region’s President Carles Puigdemont refused to abandon his demand for independence, BBC reported.
Spain’s government said Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s will hold a special Cabinet meeting on Saturday to trigger the process to take control over Catalonia, AP reported. The move comes after Puigdemont threatened to declare independence if no talks were offered. “If Spain’s government continues to impede dialogue and continues its repression, Catalonia’s parliament will proceed to hold a vote on declaring independence from Spain,” Puigdemont’s letter said.
The Catalan leader had until Thursday to withdraw the region’s declaration of independence. On October 11, Puigdemont had symbolically declared independence but suspended it soon after to call for negotiations with Madrid on the region’s future.
The Spanish Cabinet would have to invoke Article 155 of Spain’s 1978 Constitution to take over the region. It has never been used in the four decades since democracy was restored at the end of General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship.
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