TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - People began arriving before dawn to join the parents, children, and activists who had occupied the buildings, defying a judge’s order to vacate before the Sunday polling is supposed to begin.
Many Catalans spent the night in schools and began to set up polling stations in an attempt to vote in the banned referendum.
However, ballot boxes have not been seen at the polling stations.
The central government in Madrid has taken strict measures to prevent the referendum from effectively taking place. Over the past week, police have been conducting raids on venues where ballot papers and ballot boxes were believed to be kept.
Police have also arrested Catalan officials, seized campaigning leaflets, sealed off many of the 2,300 schools designated as polling stations, and occupied the Catalan government’s communications hub.
In spite of the crackdown, or perhaps because of it, many people in Catalonia have been determined to hold the vote.
However, ballot boxes have not been seen at the polling stations.
The central government in Madrid has taken strict measures to prevent the referendum from effectively taking place. Over the past week, police have been conducting raids on venues where ballot papers and ballot boxes were believed to be kept. Police have also arrested Catalan officials, seized campaigning leaflets, sealed off many of the 2,300 schools designated as polling stations, and occupied the Catalan government’s communications hub.
In spite of the crackdown, or perhaps because of it, many people in Catalonia have been determined to hold the vote.
At other polling centers, activists carried schools’ iron gates away to make it harder for police to seal them off.
A minority of around 40 percent of Catalans support independence, polls show, although a majority want to hold a referendum on the issue.
The already-autonomous region of 7.5 million people has an economy larger than that of Portugal.
Source:Press TV