Jailed Catalonia leader Santi Vila walks free from prison after paying bail of 50,000 euros. Vila was among nine Catalan leaders ordered to be held in custody on Thursday.

He stepped down from the Catalan cabinet before a unilateral declaration of independence last week and is now pushing for a negotiated solution with the government.

“I think they’ve taken disproportionate measures,” he said. “We are confident that in the end, we’ll be truly committed to ending this situation that is so horrible that most democracies in the world dont understand.”

But the lawyer for two Catalan separatist activists leaves jail empty-handed after Spanish judges rejected an appeal to release Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart. The two men were arrested over two weeks ago as part of a sedition probe. They will remain in a Madrid jail while the investigation continues.

Meanwhile government spokesman Mendez de Vigo says the government will make sure the elections in Catalonia on the 21st December were elections with guarantees. He emphasised they were for all political parties to take part in if they wanted to.

Spain’s Supreme Court said on Thursday it had adjourned until next week the hearings of former members of Catalonia’s dissolved parliament including speaker Carme Forcadell. The Court agreed to give one more week to Forcadell and the Catalan lawmakers to prepare their defence.

Several hundred people protested after the nine leaders were ordered held in custody far fewer than over the last two months.