Police have sealed off 1,300 of 2,315 schools in Catalonia designated as polling stations for the region’s banned independence referendum, Spain’s central government says.<\/p>\n
The move came as the Spanish authorities stepped up their attempts to stop Sunday’s referendum.<\/p>\n
Police have now occupied the regional government’s telecommunications centre.<\/p>\n
Catalonia, a wealthy region of 7.5 million people in north-eastern Spain, has its own language and culture.<\/p>\n
It has a high degree of autonomy, but is not recognised as a separate nation under the Spanish constitution.<\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of people are expected to vote in Sunday’s ballot, which has been declared illegal by Spain’s Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n
The authorities in Madrid have sent thousands of police to the region to stop it taking place. They are being assisted by the Catalan regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra.<\/p>\n
They have been ordered to clear schools occupied by activists – including parents and their children who remained in the buildings after the end of lessons on Friday – aiming to ensure the buildings can be used for voting.<\/p>\n
“Of the 2,315 polling stations… 1,300 have been sealed off by the Mossos d’Esquadra,” said Enric Millo, the central government’s representative in Catalonia.<\/p>\n
He added that 163 of these were being “peacefully” occupied by people who would be allowed to leave, although no-one will be allowed in.<\/p>\n
Officers have also been seizing items such as ballot papers, while prosecutors have ordered the closure of websites linked to the vote and the arrest of officials organising the referendum.<\/p>\n
Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont told Reuters news agency that the referendum would go ahead.<\/p>\n
“Everything is prepared at the more than 2,000 voting points so they have ballot boxes and voting slips, and have everything people need to express their opinion,” he said.<\/p>\n
Friday saw thousands of Catalan separatists hold a final rally in the city of Barcelona.<\/p>\n
But in the town of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, some 2,000 people opposed to independence attended a rally called by Ciudadanos, Catalonia’s main opposition party.<\/p>\n
Friday also saw a judge order media giant Google to remove an application giving information about the outlawed referendum.<\/p>\n
Pressure for a vote on self-determination has grown over the past five years but in the 2015 regional election, won by an alliance of pro-independence parties, about 40% of voters backed parties loyal to Spain.<\/p>\n
Spanish unionists argue Catalonia already enjoys broad autonomy within Spain, along with other regions like the Basque Country and Galicia.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"