France's Le Monde newspaper led its news coverage this afternoon with Spain's decision to impose direct rule on Catalonia. "Madrid sets in motion the process to suspend home rule in Catalonia", declared the French daily. "The Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, has announced this Saturday that it will ask the Senate to eliminate the Catalan government led by Carles Puigdemont in order to call new elections, with the objective of avoiding Catalonia's secession", it stated.
The prestigious European paper says that the political showdown between Madrid and the Catalan leadership has gone on for several weeks, "with the organization of a self-determination referendum in Catalonia on 1st October, which was considered illegal by the Constitutional Court". "Mr. Rajoy had asked on Thursday morning for the Catalan authorities to clearly renounce the possibility of a unilateral proclamation of independence based on the victory of "Yes" in the independence referendum", the French newspaper added.