rumours circulated that carles puigdemont was ready to pull back and call elections, at the cata la nme under pressure from supporters of independence. and on the 27th of 0ctober, after crowds had waited for hours in the heat, the catalan parliament declared the region and independent republic. the then speaker of the parliament had been threatened with legal action if she allowed the debates on independence go ahead. but almost as soon as the parliament had declared independence, the spanish senate voted to suspend cata la n spanish senate voted to suspend catalan autonomy and remove carles puigdemont‘s government from office. the first time since the dictatorship, the spanish government assumed control of catalonia. by the end of that week for catalan leaders we re end of that week for catalan leaders were injail, where they end of that week for catalan leaders were in jail, where they have remained ever since. the speaker also had to spend a night in prison. carme forcadell was sent back to prison shortly after we spoke as spain escalated its response to the crisis in march this ye

deposed catalan president carles puigdemont missed the election.f independence, he fled for brussels. in march, he was arrested in germany and subsequently let out on bail. speaking on his release, he called for a political solution to the crisis. the time for dialogue has arrived! we are demanding the dialogue from the last years and we only received a violent and repressive response. now, seeing the fall of that response, it's time to do politics. if the german court agrees to his extradition, mr puigdemont could spend years in a spanishjail. independent commentator josep ramoneda blames a failure of leadership on both sides for the current crisis. after months of stalemate, mr puigdemont nominated a new president, quim torra, a decisive figure who has had a divisive figure who has had to apologise for comments he made about spanish speakers in the past. the appointment of a new government means rule from madrid will end. mr torra continues to press for the release of those in prison. so far, politicians have been unable, or unwilling, to break t