Catalonia referendum: Spain's government issues veiled DEATH THREAT to Catalan leader

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Catalonia referendum: Spain's government issues veiled DEATH THREAT to Catalan leader The apparent threat comes amid heightened tensions between Catalonia and Spain as the wealthy region threatens to break away following an independence referendum held on October 1.

More than 90 per cent of the Catalonians who went to the polls voted in favour of independence, although the Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy and the King have rejected the results. Spain has been rocked by the referendum results and the police violence seen against voters in Catalonia has sparked a huge backlash. Now, Spain’s ruling party appears to have resorted to thinly-veiled threats in a bid to force Catalan leaders to back down as the region’s independence bid threatens the breakup of Spain.

Pablo Casado, the party's deputy secretary for communications, told reporters: "Let's hope that nothing is declared tomorrow because perhaps the person who makes the declaration will end up like the person who made the declaration 83 years ago." The person who made the declaration 83 years ago, Lluis Companys, was arrested, tried and sentenced to 30 years in prison for rebellion.

Exiled to France after the Spanish Civil War, Companys was eventually handed over to the Francoist regime by the Nazis and executed in Barcelona on October 15, 1940. Mr Cascado’s comments have prompted a furious reaction from some supporters of Catalan independence.

Republican Catalan Left (Esquerra, ERC) MP Joan Tardà tweeted: "Yes, Pablo Casado, we know how our President Companys ended up, shot by the army. Does it make you happy to remind our defenceless people of it?". Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias tweeted: "Casado says Puigdemont might end up like Companys, who was tortured and shot. Either he is ignorant or irresponsibly provocative.” Meanwhile, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria warned the government could be forced to take direct action if the Catalan independence announcement goes ahead.

She said: ”I’m calling on the sensible people in the Catalan Government don't jump off the edge because you'll take the people with you. "If there is a unilateral declaration of independence there will be decisions made to restore law and democracy."