Catalonia vice president says Spain has given region no choice but to declare 'new republic'

Oriol Junqueras says his party, which is part of the ruling coalition, is 'going to work towards building a republic'

Catalonia's vice-president has said that the Spanish government has given them "no choice" but declare independence.

Oriol Junqueras said his party, one of the two in the ruling separatist coalition which forms the Catalan government, is "going to work toward building a republic" because they have a "democratic mandate" following a referendum earlier this month.

Madrid declared the referendum illegal and sent in its centralised police force, the Civil Guard, to stop people voting. Officers were seen firing rubber bullets at crowds and beating voters as they attempted to enter polling stations during the vote on 1 October.

Nearly 900 people were injured in the violence and the final result showed 92 per cent backed independence based on a turnout of 43 per cent.

Mr Junqueras was speaking for Republican Left party and not for the regional government as a whole, which is headed by President Carles Puigdemont.

Mr Puigdemont announced he would be delaying his declaration of independence – which was originally due to happen around a week after the vote – to seek negotiations with the Madrid government.

In a defiant TV address after the polls closed, Spanish Prime Mariano Rajoy said there had "been no referendum" in Catalonia and the population had been duped into taking part in an illegal vote.

He defended the Civil Guard's actions and Spanish King Felipe later called for calm and unity – denouncing the actions of the "disloyal" separatists.

In September, the Constitutional Court in Madrid ruled that the referendum was illegal because it violated a clause in the Constitution which refers to "the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation, the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards".

It later declared the result of the referendum null and void and the Spanish government is expected to impose direct rule on Catalonia using Article 155 of the constitution later this week.

The Spanish Senate is due to impose the order on Friday but may introduce it gradually to avoid causing too many fresh protests.

Meanwhile, Mr Puigdemont turned down an invitation to address the Senate about Catalan independence.

Earlier on Wednesday, aides had indicated that Mr Puigdemont, who is the region's President, would attend the session in Madrid.

But a spokesman for Mr Puigdemont said later the Catalan leader would not do so because the Spanish government had already announced its intention to impose direct control on the autonomous region to counter its independence drive.

Additional reporting by AP