Spanish court bans Catalan parliament from meeting, declaring independence

Oct. 5 (UPI) -- The Spanish Constitutional Court banned the Catalan parliament from meeting next week to stop the region from declaring independence.

The ban comes after Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said he would declare independence from the rest of Spain "in a matter of days" following the final referendum vote count. In the referendum this weekend, the Catalan government said, around 2 million of the 2.3 million votes cast backed secession. More than 5 million Catalonians were eligible to vote, but the Spanish government ordered police to raid polling places and seize voting supplies.

The injunction was made after the court unanimously voted to hear an objection to the Parliamentary meeting filed earlier today by the Catalan Socialist party.

The court, made up of 12 magistrates, is headed by Juan José González Rivas, who is part of the same political party as Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

The parliament meeting on Oct. 9 was expected to be Puigdemont's official call for Catalonia's independence.

The ban casts doubt on whether Catalonia will be able to successfully secede from Spain.

Spain's Constitutional Court justified the ban by calling the move to declare independence "a breach of the constitution," as have other Spanish government officials including King Felipe VI.

"It is the responsibility of the legitimate powers of the state to ensure constitutional order and the normal functioning of our institutions, the validity of the state of law and self-government in Catalonia," Felipe said in a speech Wednesday.