Catalonia independence: Spain orders Catalan police to SHUT DOWN polling stations

Senior public prosecutor of Catalonia José Maria Romero de Tejada has ordered the head of the Mossos d’Esquadra – the Catalan police – to have his officers close off the centres to be used as polling stations for the referendum before September 30 until after 9pm on October 1 – the day of the referendum.

The order, seen by the Catalan publication El Nacional, states police must block the vote “whatever it takes” while instructing them to not let anyone open the centres and if they do to evict them.

Any material that Mossos find relating to the referendum is to be confiscated and they must identify everyone inside the centres helping to enable the vote.

Mossos must also prevent any voting points being established in the streets within 100 metres of any centre.

Catalonia referendum Madrid issues orders to the Catalan policeAFP/EPA

Madrid has issued orders to Mossos, the Catalan police, over the referendum

Mr Romero de Tejada required Mossos to seize anything they find related to the referendum, “especially ballot boxes, computing equipment, voting slips and election documentation or propaganda”.

The order also says “evicting, if necessary, any people there are in the placed planned for the vote” and asking police to identify the leaders and participants of the occupation, and anyone involved in opening sealed-off centres.

And the order also asks the Mossos not to let the polling stations be set up at 7.30am on Sunday as planned “with the objective of preventing the organisation of the vote, and as a means also to prevent later problems of public order, using a specific team at each voting place to be deployed before the designated time.”

The move will, once again, put Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy’s conservative administration in Madrid on collision course with that of the Spanish north east region that wants a referendum on whether or not to declare itself a republic and breakaway from the rest of Spain.

Spain’s Constitutional Court has ruled the independence referendum is illegal but the regional government of Catalonia, headed by Carles Puigdemont, has remained determined to go ahead with the vote backed by widespread support from the Catalan people.

The move by the public prosecutor giving orders to Mossos is also highly controversial as the Catalan interior minister Joaquim Forn as well as the head of Mossos Josep Lluís Trapero stated in a recent joint press conference: “We don’t accept the interference of the [Spanish] state in the Mossos”.

It comes after the administration in Madrid attempted to seize control of the regional police force.

Mr Trapero expressed his intention to not accept the measure, which he described as “interference by the state”, and also warned “it skips over all the bodies of the legal framework to coordinate the security of Catalonia”.

Catalonia referendum - Mariano RajoyEPA

Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy

The Spanish government’s representative in Catalonia Enric Millo said: “Today we can affirm that there will be no effective referendum in Catalonia. All the referendum’s logistics have been dismantled.”

In a related move, Mr Millo has sent a letter to all the directors of secondary schools in Catalonia threatening them with prosecution should they authorise “even tacitly” any illegal event to do with the referendum.

According to the letter, these actions even include making the keys or school access codes available to “authorities or third parties”.

Senior Madrid government officials said authorities had done enough to prevent a meaningful referendum in the region as Catalonia lacked an election commission, ballots boxes, ballot papers, a transparent census and election material.

Catalonia referendum Carles PuigdemontEPA

Catalonia President Carles Puigdemont

The Madrid government has in recent weeks taken extensive measures to prevent the referendum by seizing control of Catalonia’s finances, arresting numerous officials raiding printers and seizing election leaflets.

In addition any pro-independence website set up by the Catalan authorities have been repeatedly blocked, including one by the Assemblea Nacional Catalana (ANC), although once blocked they are simply reopened with a different domain.

Hundreds of police reinforcements from the Guardia Civil have been deployed in Barcelona and other cities.

Catalonia independence Ferran LopezAFP

Ferran Lopez, head of Mossos

Madrid has also threatened fines against bureaucrats working on the ballot, including the region’s election commission, which was dissolved last week.

These actions have provoked mass demonstrations and drawn accusations from Catalan leaders that the Madrid government was resorting to the repression of the Franco dictatorship.

Mr Puigdemont has remained determined to hold the vote, saying the regional assembly in Barcelona will declare independence within 48 hours of a “yes” victory.

Catalan authorities sent out notifications to people planning to man polling booths spread across the region, the parliamentary spokeswoman for the independence supporting Junts pel Si (Together for Yes) coalition Marta Roviera said.