Spain: Police Seal Off (Catalonian) Polling Stations.
Spanish police have sealed off more than half of schools earmarked as polling stations for a banned referendum on Catalonia's breakaway from Spain, according to officials.
Separatists in the northeastern region on Friday evening and Saturday morning started occupying voting stations in a bid to ensure Sunday's poll, which has been declared illegal by Spanish authorities, goes ahead.
parents and students were found to be occupying 163 schools and holding activities when police were sealing off facilities on Saturday.
'Background
Catalonia is a wealthy region within Spain that accounts for about 20 percent of the country's economy. It has its own language, which is taught in schools and universally spoken.
Tens of thousands of Catalans are expected to attempt to vote in a ballot that will have no legal status as it has been blocked by Spain's Constitutional Court and Madrid for being at odds with the 1978 constitution.
Jazeera's Karl Penhaul, reporting from Catalonia's capital, Barcelona, said that poll supporters spent the night in schools with their children.
"Citizens and families here have been getting together and organising defence committies. They know that those schools have become key battlegrounds in Catalonia's political struggle," he said.
Spanish police have sealed off more than half of schools earmarked as polling stations for a banned referendum on Catalonia's breakaway from Spain, according to officials.
Separatists in the northeastern region on Friday evening and Saturday morning started occupying voting stations in a bid to ensure Sunday's poll, which has been declared illegal by Spanish authorities, goes ahead.
parents and students were found to be occupying 163 schools and holding activities when police were sealing off facilities on Saturday.
'Background
Catalonia is a wealthy region within Spain that accounts for about 20 percent of the country's economy. It has its own language, which is taught in schools and universally spoken.
Tens of thousands of Catalans are expected to attempt to vote in a ballot that will have no legal status as it has been blocked by Spain's Constitutional Court and Madrid for being at odds with the 1978 constitution.
Jazeera's Karl Penhaul, reporting from Catalonia's capital, Barcelona, said that poll supporters spent the night in schools with their children.
"Citizens and families here have been getting together and organising defence committies. They know that those schools have become key battlegrounds in Catalonia's political struggle," he said.
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