The Spanish government said it would welcome the participation of sacked Catalan president Carles Puigdemont in regional elections to be held in December.

Government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said that if Mr Puigdemont wanted to continue in politics, "which is his right, I think he should prepare for [the] next elections".

Mr Puigdemont had earlier called for a democratic opposition to Madrid's takeover of the region following its declaration of independence.

"I'm quite sure that if Puigdemont takes part in these elections, he can exercise this democratic opposition," said Mr Mendez de Vigo.

After dissolving the regional parliament and sacking the regional government on Friday, Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said a new regional election would be held in Catalonia on 21 December.

Mr Mendez de Vigo also said he was confident that the regional Catalan police would obey the law after the government had sacked regional officers.

He said that if Mr Puigdemont refused to abandon his office, the government would react with "intelligence and with common sense".

Asked what would happen if Mr Puigdemont had to face prosecution in the courts, Mr Mendez de Vigo replied that in Spain judicial and political powers were separate and that "no one is above the law". He did not commit himself further.

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs has said that Ireland does not recognise Catalonia's declaration of Independence.

In a statement this afternoon, the Department said: "We are all concerned about the crisis in Catalonia. Ireland respects the constitutional and territorial integrity of Spain and we do not accept or recognise the Catalan Unilateral Declaration of Independence.

"The resolution of the current crisis needs to be within Spain's constitutional framework and through Spain's democratic institutions."

The Department added that Ireland supports efforts to resolve the crisis through lawful and peaceful means.

Several European countries, including France and Germany, as well as the United States have also rejected the independence declaration and said they supported Mr Rajoy's efforts to preserve Spain's unity.

Charges of rebellion to be filed against Puigdemont

Meanwhile, the Spanish State prosecutor has announced that he will be filing charges of rebellion against Mr Puigdemont, following the move to unilaterally declare independence.

A court will then decide whether to accept the charges.

Under Spanish law, the crime of "rebellion" is punishable by up to 30 years in jail.

"Public prosecutors will file a complaint for rebellion against Carles Puigdemont next week," a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office said, adding similar lawsuits could be filed against other members of the Catalan government and parliament.

Catalonia's police force has told its officers to remain neutral in the struggle over the region's fight for independence.

There have been doubts over how the Mossos d'Esquadra, as the Catalan police are called, would respond if ordered to evict Puigdemont and his government.

The force is divided by distrust between those for and against independence, and is estranged from Spain's national police forces, Mossos and national police officers have told Reuters.

Some Catalan police officers stood between national police and those trying to vote during the banned referendum.

Last night, several thousand Catalan separatists took part in demonstrations outside the main Catalan Government building in Barcelona, hours after Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, dissolved the Catalan parliament and called a snap election.

Mr Rajoy has designated Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz Santamaria to oversee the process of direct rule.

Elsewhere in the city, pro-unity demonstrators carrying Spanish flags broke windows at the official Catalan Broadcaster, Catalunya Radio.