Madrid — Spain's government said Saturday that it will move to suspend Catalonia's separatist government and call fresh elections in the region in a bid to stop its leaders from declaring independence.

Speaking after an emergency cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, said his government had no choice after Catalonia's separatist government acted in a way that was "unilateral, contrary to the law and seeking confrontation" in holding a banned independence referendum.

Rajoy said he would curb the powers of the parliament of Catalonia, sack its government and call an election within six months in a bid to thwart a drive by the autonomous region to breakaway from Spain.

He said his government had taken this unprecedented decision to restore the law, make sure regional institutions were neutral, and to guarantee public services and economic activity as well as preserve the civil rights of all citizens.

The measures must now be approved by Spain's upper house, the Senate, where a vote is scheduled for Oct. 27.

The country's Constitutional Court has so far ruled against all moves toward secession, including the controversial referendum. The court's website appeared to be offline Saturday, and a spokeswoman said it had been affected by vandalism of unknown origin.

Spain's National Security Department had warned of potential digital vandalism Friday and said slogans supporting independence for Catalonia had popped up on a number of government websites.

The Constitutional Court spokeswoman said Saturday only the court's website was not working and no internal information was compromised. She requested anonymity in line with internal rules.

The referendum vote itself was marred by sporadic violence as police took action to shut down some polling locations. The central government says the results have no legitimacy.

Although the ruling Popular Party has a strong enough majority to get the specific measures passed by the country's Senate, Rajoy has rallied the support of the opposition to give his government's actions more weight.

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has threatened to call a vote in the regional parliament for an explicit declaration of independence from Spain.

Catalan activist groups called for another protest Saturday in Barcelona over the jailing of two pro-independence leaders who are being investigated on possible sedition charges.

A National Court judge had Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart, the heads of grassroots organizations Catalan National Assembly and Omnium Cultural, preventatively held on Monday.

The prominent activists are accused of orchestrating earlier demonstrations in mid-September that allegedly hindered a judicial probe of preparations for the Oct. 1 referendum after it had been declared unconstitutional and got in the way of police carrying out orders to prevent the vote.

Barcelona resident Rosa Isart said the Spanish government's determination to prevent Catalonia from leaving Spain reminded her of the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco four decades ago.

"It seems unbelievable that I have to see this again because of the incompetence of these politicians who don't know how to speak or dialogue," Isart said. — Agencies