Spain's highest court ruled Monday that it is illegal for Catalonia to continue organizing a referendum that could allow the region to gain independence from the rest of Spain.
The decision comes two days after Catalonian President Artur Mas called for a Nov. 9 vote regarding its separation from Spain, a vote that was approved after receiving strong support from Catalonia's parliament and local governments.
But Spain's central government asked the court to remove the vote on grounds of unconstitutionality, and the vote was unanimously suspended Monday by 12 judges in Spain's Constitutional Court. The decision was reached after a one hour emergency meeting.
As a result of the Spanish court's decision, the Catalonian government said Tuesday that it will suspend the independence referendum, largely to save public servants from possible legal liability, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Catalonian government decided to appeal the decision instead.
Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said that because the constitution doesn't allow regions to opt out without consulting a majority of all Spaniards, the vote is illegal.
"Nothing and nobody, whether power or institution, can break this principle of single and indivisible sovereignty on which our coexistence is based," said Rajoy in a televised statement, as reported by Euronews. "In other words, no one person or group has the right to deprive all the Spanish people of the right to decide what their country is. I regret it because it's against the law; it's beyond democratic law, divides Catalans, distances them from Europe and the rest of Spain and seriously damages their welfare."
Supporters of Catalonian independence say that the central Spanish government "bleeds the region of tax revenue without offering deference to its language and culture," according to the Wall Street Journal. The Spanish government maintains that Catalonia not only receives economic benefits from Spain, but also has "sufficient autonomy" under the constitution.
Two Catalonian nationalist groups, Catalan National Assembly and Omnium Cultural, said that if their independence movement is faced with court injunctions, activists should take to the streets and exercise their democracy.
Those Catalonians who oppose independence claim that the Catalonian president is using the referendum to distract from a tax-evasion scandal involving one of Mas's former mentors.
