After a day of uncertainty yesterday, the Catalan Parliament has just proclaimed the Republic of Cataluña, after all the unionist parties walked out before the vote taking place.

After a last minute request to hold a secret vote, in order to protect the pro-independence voters from prosecution, the vote was held with 70 in favour 10 against and two spoilt.

16.09h Update: The Spanish Senate has just approved Article 155 with 214 in favour, 47 against and on abstentions. It is now up to the Government how and when they apply it.

21.06h Update: The Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy has announced that the entire regional government has been fired, along with the Head of the Catalan regional police. He has also closed down all the Catalan semi-embassies. The Ministerial Heads of the Central Government will take control of each respective Regional Government ministries. However, the celebrations in Plaça San Jaume continue, despite the fact that the Regional Prime Minister has not appeared once on the balcony of the Parliament to address them.

Lastly, the Prime Minister has announced Catalan Regional Elections on the 21st of December.

(News: Spain)