BARCELONA: Officials in Catalonia says regional leader Carles Puigdemont plans to join an afternoon protest before delivering a speech in response to the Spanish government's decision to take over the regional cabinet's functions.
In the streets of Barcelona, banging pots and pans and honking cars greeted Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's announcement Saturday that the central government wants to replace the regional cabinet to block its bid to break away from Spain.
At the national level, Pablo Echenique, a secretary in the far-left Podemos party, vowed to work to oust Rajoy and his conservative Popular Party.
Pro-business Ciudadanos (Citizens) party president Albert Rivera says he supports the announced measures to heal divisions created by the Catalan independence movement and to provide the security companies need to remain in Catalonia.