Carles Puigdemont: No traumatic break, just new understanding

Catalonia's leader Carles Puigdemont said on Monday he was not looking for a "traumatic" split from Spain but a new understanding, the day after hundreds were injured as police tried to forcibly disrupt a referendum on independence. Sunday's events in the autonomous region made it harder for the two sides to sit down to try to find a political compromise.

Carles Puigdemont. Pic/AFP

Puigdemont said the vote was valid and binding, and that "we have to apply it". He did, however, say: "We don't want a traumatic break ... We want a new understanding with the Spanish state." He said he had no contact with Spain's central government and called on Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to say whether he was in favour of mediation in talks over the region's future, to be overseen by EU.