Catalan Way
Catalonia saw several local referenda for independence take place in hundreds of villages between 13 September 2009 and April 2011, with an overwhelming number of "yes" votes being cast.
The 2012 Catalan independence demonstration, organized by the Catalan National Assembly, argued that Catalonia should become an independent state within the European Union, under the slogan "Catalonia, new state in Europe". The number of participants was estimated at about 1.5 million according to Barcelona's Municipal Police and Catalonia's Department of the Interior, about 2 million according to the organizers, and about 600,000 according to the delegation of the Spanish government in Catalonia.
2017 Catalan regional election
On 26 October 2017, it was expected that President of the Government of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont would call an election to prevent the enforcement of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, which was due to be approved by the Spanish Senate on the following day amid the 2017 Spanish constitutional crisis and which would have resulted in direct rule from the central government in Madrid being imposed over Catalonia. This move sparked outcry within pro-independence ranks, including members within Puigdemont's coalition, who had aimed for a unilateral declaration of independence in response to the Spanish government's move to trigger Article 155. Finally, President Puigdemont ruled out calling an election, allegedly because of the Spanish government's refusal to call off the invocation of the Article 155 procedure even were an election to be called by Catalan authorities. After Puigdemont's refusal to call an election, a debate over a possible declaration of independence went ahead as planned in the Parliament of Catalonia later that day and into the next day, simultaneous to the Spanish Senate debating the enforcement of direct rule in Catalonia. At the end of the debate, the Catalan parliament voted a unilateral declaration of independence which was backed 70–10, two MPs casting a blank ballot and all MPs from Citizens, the Socialists' Party of Catalonia and the People's Party boycotting the vote. Mariano Rajoy subsequently removed the entire Catalan government from office and declared the Parliament's dissolution, calling a regional election for 21 December 2017.