Government of Catalonia

Demonstrators blocked main roads in Catalonia on March 27 to protest the arrest in Germany of the region's former president Carles Puigdemont and the jailing of other separatist leaders in Spain.

Spain's prime minister warned on Monday that Madrid would continue unpopular direct control over Catalonia if former regional leader Carles Puigdemont tried to rule again from exile in Belgium.

Catalonia is heading to the polls in a snap election to decide the future of the separatist project on Thursday./aljazeera.com/

The dismissed Catalan government, headed by former regional President Carles Puigdemont, declared independence from Spain on October 27.

 Catalonia votes on Thursday for a new administration in an election many hope will resolve Spain's worst crisis in decades after the region declared independence leading Madrid to sack local leaders./Reuters.

Catalonia faces a crucial election on December 21 that will determine whether Spain is on-course to tackle the northeastern region's independence push — its gravest political crisis in the past four decades — or be mired in uncertainty for months or years.

Spain’s Constitutional Court has suspended a session of the Catalan parliament scheduled for Monday in which local leaders were expected to declare Catalonia’s unilateral independence from Spain.
The ruling followed a legal challenge by the Catalan Socialist Party, which opposes secession, according to El Pais newspaper.

Catalonia will proclaim the region's independence from Spain within several days, Catalonia's President Carles Puigdemont told the BBC broadcaster.

According to Puigdemont, the Catalan government will "act at the end of this week or the beginning of next."

The King of Spain is to address the nation after thousands of people took to the streets in Catalonia to vent their fury over the violent police crackdown on Sunday’s contested independence referendum.
King Felipe will make a televised statement Tuesday at 9 p.m. local time, a spokesman for the royal household told CNN.

The Catalan government says 38 people have been treated by emergency services in the disorder.
Spanish riot police smashed their way into the polling station where Catalonia’s regional leader was due to vote in the disputed independence referendum on Sunday. Scuffles erupted outside between police and people waiting to vote.

Supporters of Catalan independence began occupying polling stations on Friday, setting up a possible confrontation with police who have been ordered to clear them out by Sunday morning to ensure a referendum cannot go ahead.