Catalonia's secessionist leader came under intense pressure on Monday to abandon plans to declare independence from Spain after hundreds of thousands of unionists took to the streets at the weekend to protest against the region breaking away.

France, which borders Catalonia, said it would not recognise a unilateral independence declaration. "If there were a declaration of independence it would be unilateral and it wouldn't be recognised," France's minister for European affairs Nathalie Loiseau said.

Spain's opposition Socialist party chief Pedro Sanchez called on Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont to "stop everything" as he threatens to formally declare independence within days.

Spain fears the Catalan parliament will vote for independence on Tuesday, when Puigdemont is due to address the assembly in the wake of the referendum in which officials say people voted overwhelmingly for secession.

But the Spanish government, buoyed by Sunday's protests in Barcelona, the Catalan capital, made it clear on Monday it would respond immediately to any such vote. "I'm calling on the sensible people in the Catalan government...don't jump off the edge because you'll take the people with you," Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamara said.

Source: Khaleej Times