Catalan parliament defies Madrid pressure, works on independence declaration

Catalan secessionists were working today towards a unilateral declaration of independence from Spain that could be adopted next week in defiance of a court order and increased economic pressure from Madrid.


After Spain's Constitutional Court suspended a session of the Catalan regional parliament set for Monday, which had been expected to endorse an independence declaration, the parliament said the region's pro-independence leader Carles Puigdemont would address the assembly at 6pm on Tuesday.

Madrid apologised for the first time today for police use of violence in trying to hinder a weekend referendum it had declared illegal.

That crackdown raised the temperature of a confrontation that has grown into the worst political crisis for decades in Spain.

A Catalan legislator was quoted by El Mundo newspaper as saying secessionist parties in the Catalan parliament were discussing an independence declaration to be submitted to the assembly next Tuesday.
[ rte.ie]
 6/10/17