Catalonia’s Leader: ‘We Will Declare Independence in a Matter of Days’

Catalonia’s pro-independence leader said that the region will declare independence from Spain “in a matter of days.” Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, the head of Catalonia’s devolved government Carles Puigdemont said his administration would declare independence from Spain “at the end of this week or the beginning of next.” “We are going to declare independence 48 hours after all the official votes have been counted,” he told the BBC Tuesday evening. When asked when that would be, Puigdemont said “this will probably finish once we have all the votes in from abroad at the end of the week.” Hundreds of thousands of people across Catalonia have been protesting over Spanish police violence during the vote, during which nearly 900 people were hurt. During the vote, 33 police officers were also injured, local medical officials said.