Catalan secessionists cut formal ties with Spanish monarchy

MADRID – Catalonia’s pro-independence political leaders are snubbing the Spanish king in their latest public challenge to rule from Madrid.

Catalan President Quim Torra says his regional government won’t invite the monarchy to any official event, nor will it send representatives to any royal event, because King Felipe VI refuses to discuss the possibility of the wealthy northeastern region seceding from Spain.

Torra and other leading Catalan politicians are demanding that Spain’s central government respect a unilateral declaration of independence passed by separatists in October.

The monarch, like the Madrid-based national government, has rejected Catalan secession.

In an announcement in the Catalan capital Barcelona on Friday, Torra said “we are not subjects, we are citizens.”

Torra is due to meet with Spain’s new prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, on July 9.