"I hope that Sanchez will agree to get down to the Catalan issue urgently… We need solutions, we need to risk, we should not hide our heads in the sand. We should be engaged in a dialogue… We have traveled a democratic and peaceful way. The Spanish state could not say the same… We have been told to surrender. It means that they do not want a dialogue. There is no place in the world where capitulation is required for a dialogue," Torra said at the regional parliament.
The politician stated that Catalonia would strive for the declaration of independence, adding that a special commission aimed at ensuring self-governance had been established.
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On October 1, Catalonia held an independence referendum, during which the vast majority of voters backed the region's secession from Spain. The plebiscite was not recognized by Madrid, which subsequently imposed direct rule over the autonomous region and dismissed its government. A number of activists and several ministers of the former Catalan government were arrested, while several others managed to leave Spain.