Spanish court blocks Catalan parliament session on independence
If the session goes ahead on Monday, leaders of the Catalan parliament could find themselves facing criminal charges.
Thursday 5 October 2017 16:40, UK
Spain's constitutional court has suspended a session of the Catalan parliament where separatists were planning to declare independence.
A debate and vote had been lined up for Monday, with a declaration thought likely to follow some time after.
But the court ordered suspension of that session while it hears an appeal by rival Catalan politicians, a spokeswoman said.
If the session goes ahead, the parliament's leaders could face criminal action.
Catalan's president, Carles Puigdemont, and other senior politicians from the northeast region have said they are prepared to go to jail over the push to leave Spain.
The country's prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, earlier urged Catalonia's political leaders to abandon plans to declare independence to avoid "greater evils".
In other developments, Spain's Caixabank is said to be considering moving its legal base outside Catalonia, according to a source speaking to the Reuters news agency.
The crisis comes after Catalonia held a controversial and illegal vote at the weekend on splitting from Spain.
Police seized ballot boxes, pulled people out of polling stations and fired rubber bullets at protesters - with hundreds reportedly injured.
The Spanish government said it had acted proportionately to try to stop the vote, which had been declared against the law by the constitutional court.
Mr Puigdemont used a TV address on Wednesday to say his government
He also labelled Spain's government "irresponsible" for not agreeing to talks.
"This moment calls for mediation," he said. "We have received various offers in the last hours and we will receive more.
"I will repeat it as many times as necessary: dialogue and agreement are part of the political culture of our people.
"However, the state has not given any positive answer to those offers."
Mr Rajoy's office responded that if Catalonia wants talks, it "first needs to respect the law".
Spain's King Felipe said in a TV statement on Tuesday that Catalan authorities had acted irresponsibly and deliberately broken the law in holding the vote.
The political crisis has raised fears the Spanish army could be moved in to enforce direct rule on the region from Madrid.
Madrid has the power to suspend the semi-autonomous status that Catalonia enjoys under Spain's system of regional governments.