Tens of thousands of Catalans crowded central Barcelona yesterday calling for early regional elections after plans for a November 9 referendum on independence from Spain were declared illegal by Madrid.

People dressed in yellow T-shirts waved the red and yellow Catalan independence flag, marked with a white star, and bore banners reading “Now is the time” and “We are ready”.

Some in the separatist movement want Catalonia’s leader Artur Mas to call early regional elections as a proxy vote on secession, a move likely to benefit the more radical independence party ERC, a coalition partner of Mas’s CiU party.

“President, call elections, we want to vote in the next three months. We want to start in the spring of 2015 with a new parliament,” said Carme Forcadell, head of pro-independence National Catalan Assembly as she addressed the crowds.

More than 100,000 people attended the demonstration, according to media reports.

Police could not be reached to confirm this figure.

President, call elections, we want to vote in the next three months

Mas said on Tuesday he had dropped plans to hold a referendum on independence from Spain but would instead hold a “consultation of citizens” with ballots and ballot boxes which he said would be within the law.

The Spanish government last month asked the constitutional court to declare the referendum planned for November 9 illegal on the grounds it breached the constitution. The court suspended the vote until it ruled on the case, which could take years.

About half of Catalans want more independence from Spain and a vast majority favour holding a vote on their future, polls show.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said last Wednesday that a new 'chapter of dialogue' was being opened with Catalonia after the northeastern region dropped plans to hold a referendum on independence from Spain next month.

But Rajoy also threatened to block a non-binding 'consultation' ballot which Catalonia says it will hold instead, if it were found to be illegal.

Nor was it clear if the Catalan authorities wanted to start discussions with the central government. Regional president Artur Mas said on Tuesday the Spanish state was 'the enemy'.

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