Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who faces a national election in two weeks' time, has said he will act with "strength and proportion" against any attempt by Catalan separatists to repeat their 2017 independence bid.
Catalonia's failed attempt to secede from Spain and Madrid's approach to the region has become the defining issue ahead of the April 28 election, in which polls show a coalition of right-wing, unionist parties could seize a majority in parliament.
"If we see the laws of the constitution or the Statute of Autonomy in Catalonia broken once more, the state of law led by this government will act with strength and proportion against any challenge," Sanchez said in an interview published in Hoy newspaper.