Catalonia’s pro-independence leader has said that the region will declare independence from Spain “in a matter of days.”

Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, the head of Catalonia’s devolved government Carles Puigdemont said his administration would declare independence from
Spain “at the end of this week or the beginning of next.”

“We are going to declare independence 48 hours after all the official votes have been counted,” he told the BBC Tuesday evening. When asked when that would be, Puigdemont said “this will probably finish once we have all the votes in from abroad at the end of the week.”

“And therefore we will act over the weekend or early next week,” he added. Puigdemont’s comments come after a largely symbolic referendum on independence was held in Catalonia last Sunday.

Although only 2.26 million people out of an eligible 5.3 million Catalans voted, a turnout of around 42 percent, 90 percent of those who did go to the polls voted for independence.

The vote – deemed unconstitutional and illegal by the national Spanish government and Constitutional Court – was marred by a violent crackdown by Spanish police which left hundreds of people injured.

On Tuesday, a massive general strike in protest at the police action was held in Catalonia with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets, Reuters reported.

The latest comments from Catalan’s independence figurehead Puigdemont throw the gauntlet down to Spain to do what it can to prevent one of the worst constitutional crises in the country’s recent history.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has condemned the vote and on Tuesday, Spain’s King Felipe got involved, showing how serious the matter has become.

In a televised address, King Felipe said the Catalan leaders had “infringed the system of legally approved rules with their decisions, showing an unacceptable disloyalty towards the powers of the state.”