Pro-independence Catalans Defy King Felipe VI’s Warning

Pro-independence Catalan leaders are pressing ahead despite an emphatic warning from King Felipe VI.

Pro-independence Catalan leaders are pressing ahead despite an emphatic warning from King Felipe VI.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont told the BBC he would declare independence “at the end of this week or the beginning of next”.

The European Union said it was “time to talk” to find a solution to the crisis in Catalonia.

Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans said the Spanish constitution must be followed.

Mr Timmermans, addressing the European Parliament, described the images of violence from Catalonia as “saddening”, but emphasised the importance of upholding the rule of law.

In his intervention, late on Tuesday, King Felipe branded Sunday’s referendum in the north-eastern Spanish region illegal and undemocratic.

But correspondents say his failure to acknowledge the violent repression of the vote has fired up rather than deterred independence supporters.

Meanwhile, Spain’s high court has summoned the head of Catalonia’s regional police force to testify as a suspect in a investigation of alleged sedi- tion - inciting rebellion against the state.

Josep Lluís Trapero and three other people are expected to appear in court on Friday in a move likely to inflame sentiment further amid Spain’s deepest political crisis in decades, say correspondents.