Police seal polling stations ahead of Catalan referendum

Madrid, Sep 30 (IANS) The police have sealed 1,300 of the 2,315 schools in Catalonia designated as polling stations on the eve of a banned independence referendum, a Spanish government official said on Saturday.

The move came as the Spanish authorities stepped up their attempts to stop Sunday's referendum. Police also seized the regional government's telecommunications centre, the BBC reported.

Seven and a half million people in Catalonia will take part in a referendum condemned as illegal by Spain's Constitutional Court. The authorities in Madrid sent thousands of police to the region to prevent the referendum from taking place.

Catalonia, a wealthy region in north-eastern Spain, has its own language and culture and a high degree of autonomy, but is not recognised as a separate nation under the Spanish constitution.

The police were ordered to clear schools occupied by activists, including parents and their children who remained in the school premises after the end of lessons on Friday, aiming to ensure the buildings can later be used for voting.

According to reports, 163 schools which were earmarked as voting centres, were occupied by families.

Masses of referendum material were confiscated by police in recent weeks, while prosecutors ordered the closure of websites linked to the vote and the arrest of officials involved in organising the referendum.

Friday saw thousands of Catalan separatists hold a final rally in the city of Barcelona. Regional President Carles Puigdemont told the crowd during the rally that he believed Catalonia would be taking its first steps as a sovereign nation.

"Friends, so that victory is definite, on Sunday let's dress up in referendum (clothes) and leave home prepared to change history," Puigdemont said.

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.

Friday also saw a judge order media giant Google to remove an application giving information about the outlawed referendum.

Despite the tension in the region, demonstrations by independence campaigners have been largely peaceful.

"I don't believe there will be anyone who will use violence or who will want to provoke violence that will tarnish the irreproachable image of the Catalan independence movement as pacifist," the Catalonia Regional President said.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)