Catalonia to declare independence from Spain on Monday

Catalonia will move on Monday to declare independence from Spain following October 1's banned referendum as the European Union nation nears a rupture that threatens the foundations of its young democracy.

Mireia Boya, a Catalan lawmaker from the pro-independence Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) party, said on Twitter that a declaration of independence would follow a parliamentary session on Monday to evaluate the results of the vote to break away. "We know that there may be disbarments, arrests ... But we are prepared, and in no case will it be stopped," she said.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont earlier said he would ask the region's parliament to declare independence following the poll, which Spain's government and constitutional court say was illegal and in which only a minority of Catalans voted.

"This will probably finish once we get all the votes in from abroad at the end of the week and therefore we shall probably act over the weekend or early next week," he told the BBC in remarks published on Wednesday.

In an interview with German newspaper Bild, Puigdemont said he already felt like "a president of a free country where millions of people have made an important 

decision". He said the Madrid government's refusal to negotiate had left Catalonia "no other way" than to declare independence and accused it of authoritarianism.