Spain's top court on Monday upheld a court ruling disqualifying the separatist leader of Spain's Catalonia region Quim Torra from office for disobedience, triggering immediate calls for protest in the wealthy northeastern region.

The ruling by Spain's Supreme Court means Torra will have to stand down, unleashing a fresh political crisis as Catalonia's regional government struggles to contain a surge in coronavirus infections in a badly-hit area of Spain.

It was not immediately clear how quickly the disqualification would take effect, with the matter to be decided by Catalonia's high court, which convicted him in December of using Catalan separatist symbols on public buildings in the run-up to the national election of April 2019.

"He repeatedly and stubbornly disobeyed the orders of the Central Electoral Board to remove certain symbols from public buildings belonging to the Generalitat (regional government) during the electoral process," the Supreme Court judges found in a unanimous ruling, throwing out Torra's appeal.

The sentence disqualifies Torra from holding elected office for 18 months but he had been allowed to remain in power during the appeal process.

The regional parliament has already said it would disregard any such decision disqualifying Torra from office, and the regional leader himself could also defy the ruling.

Monday's ruling is likely to exacerbate a bitter dispute within the region's deeply-divided separatist movement and potentially lead to early regional elections.

Torra said on Thursday his possible removal from office would hamper its coronavirus response by triggering an unnecessary election and fueling political tensions.

"I'm not the one who will bring this country, at such a critical time, through an irresponsible electoral period that will paralyze Catalan administration," he said, reading a statement.

Catalonia has been a virus hotspot in Spain, which has Western Europe's highest number of cases. As of Monday, 716,481 confirmed cases and 31,232 deaths had been recorded nationwide.

(With input from AFP and Reuters)