El Pais
After being told to seal off premises likely to be used as voting stations for Sunday’s planned independence referendum, the Catalan police have warned state prosecutors that following these orders could pose public order problems.
Josep Lluís Trapero, head of the Mossos d’Esquadra force, said there could be problems ensuring “citizen safety” and talked about “a predictable risk of public order disturbances” on a day when Catalans have been asked by their regional government to vote in an illegal referendum that violates Spanish legislation, and which has been suspended by the courts.
He added that officers will act with “proportionality” to avoid “undesired consequences.”
Some groups in the education community have already called for volunteers to keep these centers open on Sunday.
“Faced with the latest news and events, individuals with ties to the education community have come together to express our rejection to the sealing off the schools, and are calling upon citizens to open up the schools, to open up to democracy,” said Josep Maria Cervelló, spokesman for the Escoles Obertes project.
Cervelló underscored that they are supporting a “civic, orderly and peaceful mobilization” that excludes any kind of confrontation with law enforcement.
Meanwhile, students at Barcelona University have been working in shifts for several days now, manning street stands where they are handing out ballot papers and providing information about the planned October 1 poll. Volunteers say they have handed out hundreds of voting papers since Friday.
“Nobody has said anything to us, not the [National] police and not the Mossos,” said an 18-year-old English Studies major as she used her cellphone to help a couple find their nearest voting station.
Despite continuing action by the Spanish judiciary against the logistics of the vote – including a major court-ordered raid against Catalan government agencies last week to seize voting material – the Catalan government insists that there will be ballot boxes out on October 1.
But regional government spokesman Jordi Turull this week admitted that voting guarantees have been “crushed” by these actions. The Civil Guard has arrested 14 people, seized voting material, and the electoral board in charge of the recount was recently dissolved after facing thousands of euros in fines. The Mossos have also been instructed to identify individuals in charge of schools and other centers that will house the ballot boxes, and to prevent street voting within a 100-meter radius.
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