The City Council in Catalonia’s Girona has removed the Spanish flag from its office building ... declaring republic's independence from Spain. Rounds of applause broke out in the chamber ...

At the height of pro-independence fervor in 2012, during a deep economic recession in Spain, around one million people took to the streets waving the Catalan flag and singing the Catalan anthem.

Many demonstrators wrapped themselves in the “estelada” flag, which has become ... regional police amid some scuffles. Catalonia represents a fifth of Spain’s 1.1-trillion-euro economy ...