Catalan referendum: Police seal off polling stations

Spanish national police have sealed off 1,300 of two,315 colleges in Catalonia unique as polling stations for the banned independence referendum, the authorities in Madrid says.
The circulate came because the Spanish government stepped up their attempts to stop Sunday's referendum.
Police have now occupied the nearby authorities's telecommunications centre.
Catalonia, a rich place of 7.five million human beings in north-jap Spain, has its personal language and lifestyle.
It has a high degree of autonomy, however is not regarded as a separate kingdom beneath the Spanish charter.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to vote in Sunday's ballot , which has been declared unlawful by means of Spain's Constitutional court docket.
The authorities in Madrid have sent lots of police to the area to prevent it taking place.
They have been ordered to clean schools occupied by way of activists - such as dad and mom and their kids who remained inside the homes after the quit of classes on Friday - aiming to ensure the homes may be used for vote casting.
officials from the Catalan nearby police have been instructed to help, however also informed now not to use pressure.
a central authority supply quoted through Reuters news enterprise stated 163 schools had been occupied through households.
officers have have also been seizing objects such as poll papers, at the same time as prosecutors have ordered the closure of web sites connected to the vote and the arrest of officials organising the referendum.
Catalan chief Carles Puigdemont instructed Reuters information agency that the referendum might move beforehand.
"everything is ready on the more than 2,000 balloting points in order that they have ballot  containers and vote casting slips, and have the whole thing humans want to specific their opinion," he said.
Friday noticed lots of Catalan separatists keep a final rally within the metropolis of Barcelona.
but within the city of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, a few 2,000 humans against independence attended a rally called by way of Ciudadanos, Catalonia's foremost opposition celebration.
Friday also saw a decide order media giant Google to take away an utility giving statistics approximately the outlawed referendum.
strain for a vote on self-determination has grown over the past five years however inside the 2015 regional election, gained with the aid of an alliance of seasoned-independence parties, approximately forty% of citizens subsidized parties dependable to Spain.
Spanish unionists argue Catalonia already enjoys huge autonomy within Spain, along with other regions just like the Basque united states of america and Galicia.