Court stops Catalan Parliament from declaring independence from Spain ON OCTOBER 6, 2017 Catalonia’s move to declare independence from Spain has been scuppered by Spain’s Constitutional Court. The court has ordered the suspension of Monday’s session of the regional Catalan parliament, where the declaration for unilateral independence from Spain was billed to take place. Catalonia The speaker of the Catalan parliament, Carme Forcadell, accused the Madrid government of using the courts to deal with political problems and said the regional assembly would not be censored. But she said parliamentary leaders have not decided whether to defy the central court and go ahead with the session. The suspension order further aggravated one of the biggest crises to hit Spain since the establishment of democracy on the 1975 death of General Francisco Franco. But Spanish markets rose on perceptions the order might ward off, at least for now, an outright independence declaration. Spanish Prime Mariano