Spanish lawmakers reject referendum

Spanish lawmakers have thrown out a Catalan bid to hold an independence referendum which a court had already ruled illegal.

Pro-independence regional president Carles Puigdemont presented a bill calling on Madrid to QUOTE-"respect" Catalonia's attempt to hold a vote in October. Majority of pro-independence lawmakers in the Catalan regional assembly back Puigdemont. However, parliamentarians in Madrid voted down the move. Madrid has also rejected the move as unconstitutional. The Catalonia region has a population of almost seven-point-five million and according to new polls only 44 percent of the residents support holding a referendum for independence.