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| Spain Catalan crisis: Puigdemont seeks independence talks | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has said his people voted for independence from Spain - but that he wants a negotiated solution with Madrid. | |
| He asked the regional parliament in Barcelona to suspend the effect of the vote so talks could begin - rather than breaking away immediately. | |
| A vote on 1 October resulted in almost 90% of voters backing independence, Catalan officials say. | |
| Madrid said it was illegal and Spain's Constitutional Court suspended it. | |
| Anti-independence voters largely boycotted the referendum ballot - which had a reported turnout of 43% - and there were several reports of irregularities. | |
| National police were involved in violent scenes as they manhandled voters. | |
| LIVE coverage | |
| Mr Puigdemont told the regional parliament on Tuesday evening that the "people's will" was to break away from Madrid, but he also said he wanted to "de-escalate" the tension around the issue. | |
| He hailed the referendum process and condemned the actions of the Spanish government, but acknowledged that people on all sides were worried about what would happen next. | |
| "We are all part of the same community and we need to go forward together. The only way forward is democracy and peace," he told deputies. | |
| But he also said Catalonia was being denied the right to self-determination, and paying too much in taxes to the central government in Madrid. | |
| Catalan police have been posted outside the parliament in Barcelona, sealing off the grounds to the public. A large pro-independence rally was held in the area as the parliament met. | |
| Independence supporters had been sharing the Catalan hashtag #10ODeclaració (10 October Declaration) on Twitter, amid expectations that Mr Puigdemont would ask parliament to declare independence on the basis of the referendum law it passed last month. | |
| But influential figures including Barcelona's mayor Ada Colau and European Council President Donald Tusk had urged Mr Puigdemont to step back from declaring independence. | |
| The Madrid government had called on the Catalan leader "not to do anything irreversible, not to pursue a path of no return and not to make any unilateral independence declaration". | |
| Mr Tusk said: "A few days ago I asked [Spanish] Prime Minister Rajoy to look for a solution to the problem without the use of force, to look for dialogue, because the use of dialogue is always better. | |
| "Diversity should not and need not lead to conflict whose consequences would obviously be bad for the Catalans, for Spain and for whole of Europe." | |
| Mr Rajoy is due to appear in Spain's parliament on Wednesday. He has already said any declaration of independence by Catalonia would "lead to nothing". | |
| A stream of companies have announced plans to move their head offices out of Catalonia in response to the crisis. | |
| It is one of Spain's wealthiest regions, accounting for a quarter of the country's exports. | |
| The European Union has made clear that should Catalonia split from Spain, the region would cease to be part of the EU. | |
| Catalonia, a part of the Spanish state for centuries but with its own distinct language and culture, enjoys broad autonomy under the Spanish constitution. | |
| However, a 2005 amendment redefining the region as a "nation", boosting the status of the Catalan language and increasing local control over taxes and the judiciary was reversed by the Constitutional Court in 2010. | |
| The economic crisis further fuelled discontent and pro-independence parties took power in the region in the 2015 elections. | |
| Attempts to hold a legal Scottish-style referendum on independence have got nowhere with the Spanish government. | |
| Are you in the region? E-mail us at haveyoursay@bbc.co.ukwith your stories. | |
| You can also contact us in the following ways: | |
| Or use the form below |