Spain braces for fresh upheaval as Catalan leader plans to declare independence
Barcelona — Spain was braced for further political upheaval on Wednesday after Catalonia’s leader said the region would declare independence "in a matter of days". Carles Puigdemont told the BBC in an interview on Tuesday that his government would "act at the end of this week or the beginning of next". He spoke after hundreds of thousands of Catalans rallied in fury over violence by police against voters during a banned referendum on independence for their region on Sunday. The central government and national courts branded the referendum illegal. But Catalan leaders claimed the results showed the region had the right to secede and said they may unilaterally declare independence. "We are going to declare independence 48 hours after all the official results are counted," Puigdemont said in the interview. His remarks came hours after Spain’s King Felipe ratcheted up tension by urging authorities to defend "constitutional order". Felipe’s dramatic intervention late on Tuesday aimed to ...
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