I don't want to go to prison... but there is nothing they can do to me that will make me stop this referendum.

As president, I have the right to call a referendum based on a law that the Catalan parliament has approved.

We must have serious dialogue between Catalonia and the Spanish state on a referendum, on independence, and on how a separation from Spain - if that's what the Catalan people choose - would be accomplished.

If you're hungry, you know that you want to eat. You don't know what's on the menu - perhaps it's not your favorite dish - but you will eat.

I don't believe there will be anyone who will use violence or who will want to provoke violence that will tarnish the irreproachable image of the Catalan independence movement as pacifist.

We do not want to turn our back on Spain. It's the opposite. We are convinced that a relationship between equals will improve our relationship.