'Only' parliament can remove the president, insists Torra

Catalan president Quim Torra insisted that "only" parliament can remove him from his post, after Spain's high court in Catalonia barred him from holding office for a period of 18 months on Thursday for failing to comply with an order from the electoral authority.

Along with the ban, the high court also fined Torra 30,000 euros, after it found him guilty of defying instructions to withdraw signs in support of jailed independence leaders from the Catalan government HQ during the campaign before the general election in April.

"A politically motivated court will not disqualify me, only the parliament can do that," said Torra, who also announced that he would call on Catalonia's parliamentary groups to show him their support in the form of a vote held in the chamber.

However, the unionist Ciutadans party (Cs) reacted by calling on Torra "to step aside" and call a new election to make room for "those who do have ideas and solutions for Catalonia," in the words of Cs leader in parliament, Lorena Roldán.

Pro-independence camp shows support

Yet, there was also support for the president, such as from the pro-independence CUP party, which said it "will not in any way tolerate" a Spanish court "deciding who should be the president of the Catalan government," in the words of MP Carles Riera.

Meanwhile, the also pro-independence JxCat party called the court's decision a "threat to democracy," and MP Aurora Madaula told parliament on Thursday that her party will defend the institution that Torra represents "until the very end."

Another key player in the pro-independence movement, the Assemblea Nacional Catalana (ANC), also showed its support for Torra, saying in a statement that the ruling is "an example of the use of the judiciary to politically repress Catalan institutions." 

Barcelona mayor regrets court decision

However, figures outside the independence camp also condemned the verdict, such as Barcelona mayor Ada Colau, who said: "One thing is not agreeing with Mr. Torra's actions, which is my case, but another is to make it a legal issue and take it to the courts."

Torra also got support from dozens of Catalan government workers in the northern city of Girona, who left their posts for a while to come out onto the street at midday to protest the court's ruling once it had been made public.