Spanish FM denies Coup d’etat claims by regional leaders

Spanish Foreign Minister, Alfonso Dastis, has said coup claims about his government’s move to reassert control over Catalonia are false.

The speaker of the Catalan parliament, Carme Forcadell, called measures announced by the government on Saturday a “de facto coup d’état”.

But Dastis says if anyone attempted a coup, it is the Catalan regional government,

Madrid had given Catalonia leaders the option of a deadline to answer if the region was declaring independence on the strenght of a Yes vote in its October the 1st referendum.

Unionist parties who won about 40% of the vote at the 2015 Catalan elections boycotted the ballot and many anti-independence supporters stayed away, arguing it was not valid.