'West cannot allow forceful suppression' of independence movement, says president in US

The Catalan president, Quim Torra, has asked the international community to show some sympathy for the pro-independence movement.

Torra spoke on Monday night at Stanford University, in the US, at the invitation of the Martin Luther King Institute. "The western world cannot allow the suppression by force of a democratic movement like ours, tolerating authoritarian methods only reinforces authoritarian states," he said.

The head of the Catalan government also stated that "in Spain, in full democratic regression, the struggle for the Catalan republic is the only way to recover" citizens' civil rights and democracy.

"I call on the international community to act with a fierce urgency as of now, and to engage in international mediation that allows the Catalan people to effectively exercise our right to self-determination," he added.

According to Torra, "only the power of international pressure will force the Spanish state to sit at the table and negotiate."