Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Puigdemont told the Catalan parliament in Barcelona that the region had won the right to be independent as a result of the vote. 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. Puigdemont says he has a mandate to declare independence for the northeastern region, but proposes waiting "a few weeks" in order to facilitate a dialogue. Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria responded to Tuesday's developments by saying: "Neither Mr Puigdemont nor anybody else can claim... to impose mediation. "The speech the president... gave today is that of a person who does not know where he is, where he's going, nor who he wants to go there with." Saenz de Santamaria said the government couldn't accept the Catalan government's validation of its referendum law because it is suspended by the Constitutional Court, or the results of the Oct. 1 vote because it was illegal and void of guarantees. She added: "After having come so far, and taken Catalonia to the greatest level of tension in its history, President Puigdemont has now subjected his autonomous region to its greatest level of uncertainty.  Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Catalan leader seeks talks to secure independence 
 
 Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and other regional leaders have signed a declaration of independence from Spain, following the disputed referendum. The document calls for Catalonia to be recognised as an "independent and sovereign state". In Brussels, European Council President Donald Tusk pleaded directly with the Catalan leadership ahead of the speech to choose dialogue rather than a divisive call for independence. The referendum resulted in almost 90% of voters backing independence, Catalan officials say. However, they say the move will not be implemented for several weeks to allow talks with the government in Madrid. Any declaration of independence won't immediately lead to the creation of a new state because the Catalan government will need to figure out how to wrest control of its sovereignty from a Spanish government that has the law, and international support, on its side, said Barcelo, the researcher on political conflicts.
– Catalan separatists on Tuesday signed what they called a declaration of independence from Spain to cheers and applause in the regional parliament—but Catalonia's president said he would delay implementing it for several weeks to give dialogue a chance. Spain, however, called an emergency Cabinet meeting for Wednesday morning and gave little indication it is willing to talk, the AP reports. In his highly anticipated speech, regional President Carles Puigdemont said the landslide victory in a disputed Oct. 1 referendum gave his government the grounds to implement its long-held desire to break century-old ties with Spain. Puigdemont proposed that the regional parliament "suspend the effects of the independence declaration to commence a dialogue." "We have to listen to the voices that have asked us to give a chance for dialogue with the Spanish state," he said. Thousands of people watching his speech on a big screen in Barcelona were euphoric at first but disappointed when he said the declaration would be suspended, the BBC reports. The central government in Madrid responded that it did not accept the declaration of independence and did not consider the referendum to be valid. Puigdemont "doesn't know where he is, where he is going, and with whom he wants to go," said Deputy PM Soraya Saenz de Santamaria.