Spain's top court suspends Catalan parliament fearing secessionist move

Spain's Constitutional Court on Thursday announced it had preemptively suspended the Catalan parliament's upcoming plenary session in an attempt to thwart a unilateral declaration of independence by the region's president.


The ruling from the highest rung of Spanish judiciary came just hours after Catalan president Carles Puigdemont said he was willing to use the plenary session in the regional parliament, which had been scheduled for Monday, to examine the full results of the Oct. 1 referendum with a possible declaration of independence on the discussion table.

The Court agreed with the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), which lodged the case, that such a move would be "a breach of the constitution" that would "annihilate" the rights of the members of the Catalan devolved parliament.

Although Puigdemont did not explicitly set out a plan to declare independence on Monday, the left-wing Popular Unity Candidacy, which supports the president's coalition Junts Pel Sí in the regional parliament, insisted the act would indeed go ahead.
  EFE/EPA
 5/10/17