The leader of the Catalan regional government in northeast Spain has said he will declare independence within days. This follows a referendum Sunday in which 90% of Catalans voted in favor of breaking away from Spain – although less than half of those registered turned out to vote. Madrid has declared the vote illegal, and Spain’s King has also strongly criticized the Catalan government – raising the stakes yet further in a crisis that has caught Europe by surprise. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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