Spain Set More Police Ahead Catalan Referendum

"It won't happen," insists Spain's prime minister, and for the Catalan leaders trying to organise Sunday's vote on seceding from Spain, his words are becoming harder and harder to contradict.

The nerve centre of the 1 October referendum - Catalonia's economy department - has been seriously damaged by raids carried out by Spain's military police force, the Civil Guard. Fourteen junior officials and associates were arrested, but more importantly close to 10 million ballot papers were impounded, and websites informing Catalans about the election have been shut down.

The government in this north-eastern region of Spain admits its logistical effort to organise the referendum has been seriously disabled, as it defies a suspension of the vote by Spain's constitutional court. Spain's interior ministry has hired three ferries to accommodate the extra security contingent being sent to the region, and a power struggle has blown up over control of Catalonia's regional police, the Mossos d'Esquadra. 
 

UCJ, UNILORIN.