Police in Catalonia Hunt for Hidden Ballot Boxes in Bid to Foil Referendum

Armed police in Spain have raided several print works and newspaper offices in Catalonia in recent days in a hunt for voting papers, ballot boxes and leaflets to be used in an Oct. 1 independence referendum which Madrid vehemently opposes.


The searches are part of a concerted effort by the government to prevent the ballot from going ahead, amid fears that a vote to break away could trigger a political crisis even if Spain does not recognize the outcome.

On Friday, the government passed measures to tighten control over the region's spending to stop it using state cash to pay for the ballot, and earlier this week Madrid summoned over 700 Catalan mayors for questioning over their support for the vote, Reuters reported.

"They've lost the plot," said Albert Batet, mayor of the town of Valls and one of those summoned for questioning. "They are persecuting mayors, the press, printers. They are stretching the limits of democracy."

Catalonia's president Carles Puigdemont, who faces criminal charges for organizing the referendum, says he has over 6,000 ballot boxes ready to deploy next month, but their whereabouts are a secret.
  (Tasnim)
 16/9/17
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