ONE of Catalonia's top leaders in the independence movement has called for unity as disputes over strategy continued.
Oriol Junqueras, Catalonia's vice-president and head of the Republican Left party, said: "We must preserve the unity that is necessary to go all the way on this path to a republic."
Fissures have appeared among pro-indy Catalans ever since President Carles Puigdemont announced on Tuesday that he was delaying an outright declaration of independence "for a few weeks" to give talks with Spain's central government in Madrid a chance.
The far-left party CUP and a grassroots independence group have both asked Puigdemont not to wait any longer.
Junqueras said: "We must reiterate our belief in unity, in unity behind our government and the majority of the parliament."
He delivered his message to 200 party members at its headquarters in Barcelona. The Republican Left party forms a governing coalition with Puigdemont's conservatives in Catalonia's parliament and its allegiance is critical to the independence drive.
Junqueras said the best way forward was for the movement to show "the world who it is, who wants to offer dialogue and who rejects it."
Spain's conservative government, led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, is also pressing Puigdemont.
It has given him a Monday deadline to clarify his position on independence as well as an ultimatum to fall in line with Spain's laws by October 19 or face losing some or all of the region's autonomous powers.
Puigdemont has been threatened with an exodus of banks and businesses relocating their headquarters from Catalonia to other parts of Spain over fears they would be out of the common European Union market in the case of independence.
Spain's government has also warned that the constitutional crisis in Catalonia is already hurting the economy.
Puigdemont claimed he has a mandate for independence after an overwheling Yes vote in the referendum on October 1, which Spain's top court had suspended on grounds it is likely unconstitutional.
43 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots despite a violent crackdown by Spanish police. Parties against independence boycotted the vote.
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