Reports suggest 14 former senior regional government figures are to face charges, including Puigdemont, his deputy, Oriol Junqueras, and the administration’s foreign minister, Raül Romeva. Spain’s control over Catalonia was being tested on Monday as politicians and civil servants returned to work amid uncertainty over whether they would accept direct rule from Madrid. The main civic group behind the pro-independence campaign has called for civil disobedience and given detailed instructions to the 200,000 or so Catalan civil servants on how they should behave. However, several Spanish ministers said at the weekend they were convinced civil servants would obey orders and reminded them that those who did not could lose their jobs. On Monday, a spokesman for Junqueras’s Catalan Republican Left party (ERC) suggested it would take part in the December election.

Source: The Guardian October 30, 2017 11:53 UTC