Catalan referendum: increased tensions in the region ahead of the vote on secession from Spain

Catalan referendum: increased tensions in the region ahead of the vote on secession from Spain
Tensions have risen in Barcelona, capital of Catalonia, where the local government plans to hold a referendum on secession from Spain on Sunday.
The central government in Madrid says the referendum is illegal, so steps are being taken to prevent the referendum from being held.
Police began visiting schools set up as polling stations and confiscating materials to be used in the referendum.
The Spanish police took control of the regional government's communications center in an attempt to neutralize applications that could be used for electronic voting or vote-counting.
The Catalunites, who oppose the separation of the province, marched to the streets waving Spanish flags demanding the imprisonment of the organizers of the referendum.

Demonstrations were also held in other parts of Spain against the secession of Catalonia.
But the president of the province of Catalonia, Carles Bigemont, said that the people of Catalonia will not give up their democratic right to self-determination, so the referendum will be held on time despite the Spanish government's threat to impose heavy penalties on the organizers of the referendum.

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The police closed 1,300 polling stations out of 2,315 schools designated as polling stations in Catalonia province, according to the central government in Madrid.
The move comes as Spanish central authorities intensify their attempts to prevent the referendum.
Tens of thousands of Italians are expected to participate in the referendum.
Madrid authorities sent thousands of police to the area to prevent the referendum.
The Spanish authorities gave police instructions to empty schools set up as polling stations of activists who include parents and their children who stayed in these buildings after the end of the study on Friday in the hope of ensuring their use as polling stations.
"The families occupied 163 schools," a government source said.
Police confiscated the materials used in the referendum, such as ballot papers, while prosecutors ordered the closure of sites linked to the referendum and arrested some of its organizers.