Catalonia will declare independence within days, the leader of the autonomous area Carles Puigdemont said in an interview with the BBC, quoted by Reuters.

This move will be a challenge to Madrid and an attempt to fulfill the will expressed by the Catalans in the referendum banned by the Spanish central government on Sunday.

Puigdemont said his government would "act at the end of this week or early next". Asked what he would do if the Spanish government intervened and took control of Catalonia, Puigdemont replied that it would be "a mistake that changes everything." The regional leader has allowed Catalonia to declare one-sided independence from Spain on Sunday after the Catalonians voted in favor of leaving despite the measures by the police, and 90 per cent of them supported separating the area. The referendum declared illegal by Madrid threw the country into the worst constitutional crisis in decades, raising fears of street violence.

A total of 700,000 people participated in yesterday's protests in Barcelona against police violence, authorities said on, quoted by France press.

Dozens of protests virtually blocked all of Catalonia. Public transport, universities, hospitals, schools, and even the Barcelona football club were involved in the general strike.

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