Thousands of police have been shipped in from all over Spain to prevent the banned referendum taking place.
Catalans started to form queues to vote in an independence referendum early on Sunday morning in defiance of the Spanish government’s attempts to prevent the vote, witnesses reveal.
Thousands of separatist supporters spent the night occupying schools that have been designated as polling stations.
Police say they will be evicted and that voting will not be allowed.
Referendum organisers urged voters to turn up “to defend” the polling stations at 05:00 (03:00 GMT) and to wait for voting to start at 09:00.
More to follow…