Spain's prime minister will ask for a court ban on Catalonia's independence vote

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced Monday that he plans to ask the country's Constitutional Court to ban a new law that would allow the semi-autonomous Catalonia region to vote on its independence.

Rajoy said the new Catalan law is "anti-democratic" and that the vote is "not compatible with the Spanish constitution." His statement comes after Catalonia's President Artur Mas signed a decree on Saturday that called for a referendum on independence, which would be held on Nov. 9. The statement and referendum also come after Scotland's rejection of independence from the U.K.

Mas, meanwhile, is determined for Catalonia's pro-independence movement to succeed. "Catalonia wants to speak," he said at the referendum signing on Saturday. "Wants to be heard. Wants to vote. Now is the right time, and we have the right legal framework to do so." Mas says that local laws allow for the regional independence vote, because it would be "non-binding," Time reports.

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But Rajoy maintains that Spain's constitution doesn't allow referendums on sovereignty that don't include all Spanish citizens. "There is no one and nothing that can deprive Spaniards of their constitutional rights," Rajoy said.