One of Catalonia's top separatist leaders pushing for a break from Spain has called for unity as disputes over strategy threaten to split the secessionists.

Oriol Junqueras, Catalonia's regional vice president and head of the Republican Left party, says Saturday "we must preserve the unity that is necessary to go all the way on this path to a republic."

The leaders of the prosperous northeastern region of 7.5 million people want to leave Spain.

Fissures have appeared among Catalan separatists ever since regional President Carles Puigdemont announced Tuesday that he was delaying an outright declaration of independence "for a few weeks" to give talks with Spain's central government in Madrid a chance.

The far-left party CUP and a grassroots secessionist group have both asked Puigdemont not to wait any longer.