BARCELONA: The speaker of Catalonia's parliament on Saturday suspended a scheduled vote to elect a jailed separatist leader as the new regional president of the restive northeastern corner of Spain.
Speaker Roger Torrent communicated his decision to the heads of the different parties moments before he announced to the chamber that there would be no vote on the candidacy of Jordi Turull, a former regional minister.
Turull was one of five high-profile separatists jailed without bail Friday by a Supreme Court judge for their alleged role in a failed independence bid by Catalonia from the rest of Spain in October.
Judge Pablo Llarena charged a total of 13 people with rebellion, a crime that is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
The separatist parties used Saturday's parliamentary session to denounce what they considered the heavy hand of Spanish law.
"Yesterday the Spanish state didn't imprison five good people. It imprisoned 2 million people and spat in their faces," said Sergi Sabria of the Republican Left in reference to the number of voters who cast ballots for pro-independence parties in December.
"We received a very hard blow yesterday. .. But we must pick ourselves up quickly to build a future for all."
The leader of Citizens, a pro-Spain party which holds the most seats in the Barcelona-based house, used the moment to claim the secession movement was crushed.
"Enough is enough. The independence movement has lost. It has failed," Citizens leader Ines Arrimadas said. "I only ask you that you stop thinking only about your voters, because you have generated worry, fear, indignation and shame for what is happening in Catalonia. We have warned you for years that the secession push will only end in a collective sense of frustration."
Llarena also activated international arrest warrants for six fugitive Catalan politicians. That group included former regional president Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium in October but was visiting Finland on since Thursday.
Puigdemont's lawyer, Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, told The Associated Press that Puigdemont has made his whereabouts known to Finnish authorities and that he will cooperate if they seek his arrest. Finnish police, for their part, confirmed that they had received Spain's extradition order.
The crackdown on the secession movement sparked protests in Catalonia on Friday night. Emergency services for the wealthy region said that 35 people were injured in clashes with police sent to control the angry crowd in central Barcelona.
Spain's worst political conflict in three decades reached its climax in October when Puigdemont flouted a ban by the country's top court to stop an ad-hoc referendum on independence. His subsequent declaration of a Catalan republic received no international recognition and provoked a takeover by Spain's central powers.
The Spanish Constitution says the European Union nation is indivisible and any changes to its top law must pass through the national parliament in Madrid.
Polls show Catalans are equally divided on the secession issue, with pro-secession parties maintaining a slim hold on the regional legislature in December elections.
Separatist lawmakers had the chance to elect Turull on Thursday, but the far-left wing of its bloc sunk his chances by abstaining.
The failure of Turull to be elected on a first vote started a two-month countdown to elect a new regional leader before a new election is automatically triggered.
A senior member of the leading separatist party "Together for Catalonia" who requested anonymity because of the sensitive moment with other pro-secession parties told the AP that Turull is still their candidate and that they hope the session to elect him can be reopened at a later date.
While that would require a judge freeing Turull to attend, Turull also faces being banned from holding public office once a period of appeals for his indictment expires in a few weeks.