Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, who with other pro-independence Catalan leaders was deposed by Spain's national government on Friday, called on Saturday for peaceful resistance to Madrid's attempt to impose national rule on the autonomous region.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy obtained permission to invoke Article 155 of the Spanish constitution in response to the Catalan parliament's Friday declaration of independence. Puidgemont urged Catalans to resist Article 155 implementation "without violence, without insults, in an inclusive way, respecting people."
"We will continue to work to build a free country," Puidgemont said, "to ensure we have a society with less injustice, more equality, more solidarity, and more fraternity with all the peoples of the world, starting with the peoples of Spain with whom we want to remain connected through respect and mutual recognition." Watch an excerpt of his comments below. Bonnie Kristian
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