Catalonia referendum: Thousands descend on Barcelona AGAINST independence vote

A huge crowd of anti-Catalonia independent
campaigners have packed out a square in front of
Barcelona city hall, where they are holding a Spanish
unity demonstration.
Some protestors were filmed climbing up the wall of
the town hall and attempting to rip down pro-
independence banners which had been posted up the
day before the controversial vote.
The men were filmed taking it in turns tearing at the
huge banner, which stretched across the front of the
town hall.
The crowd also waved Spanish flags and chanted pro-
Spain and anti-independence slogans.
Catalonia referendum: Thousands have gathered in
Barcelona to protest indepedendence
Spain’s Madrid-based government has declared
tomorrow’s vote illegal - but Catalonia authorities
claim they will be implementing the result regardless
of official approval.
The European Union (EU) has also hit out at the vote,
claiming a hypothetical independence Catalonia would
effective sacrifice its place in the bloc and have to re-
apply for membership.
Pro-independence campaigners have been forced to
camp out in polling stations in a bid to avoid them
being shut down by authorities.
Catalonia referendum: A pro-democracy banner is torn
apart by protestors
Hundreds of supporters of the referendum are planning
to spend the night in schools with their children and
say they plan to remain there until Sunday to keep
them open for voters.
A Spanish government source said more than half the
schools had been closed off and police would remove
people who attempted to vote on Sunday.
Less than a tenth of schools were occupied by
parents, the source said.
Catalonia referendum: Pro-Spain protestors
campaigning against the vote
Parents in some of the occupied schools said police
officers had told them they could stay as long as they
were not doing anything connected with the
referendum.
"The police have been four times," said Laia, a 41-
year-old sociologist at a school in central Barcelona
where around 100 children were playing and 80 people
were planning to stay the night while neighbours
brought food.
"They read us out the part of the court order that says
no activities related to the preparation of the banned
referendum are allowed."

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