The far-left Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), one of the key regional power brokers, has threatened to defy Madrid’s attempts to impose direct rule on Catalonia. “This [Madrid] aggression will receive a response in the form of massive civil disobedience,” said the party in a statement. Earlier on Monday, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría said that Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont will lose his powers and no longer receive a salary if the senate approves direct intervention.