Spain’s interior Ministry says police have closed 79 of about 2,300 polling stations that the Catalan government has authorized to stage its referendum on independence in northeastern Catalonia.
The ministry says that police, who are under orders to prevent the referendum from taking place, arrested three people, one a minor, for disobedience and assaulting officers.
It says 34 of the voting centers closed were in the Catalan capital of Barcelona. A regional court last week ordered police to close all the polling stations.
Earlier today , Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull said that voting was underway in 96 percent of the voting centers.
People protest in front of Spanish police officers after the seizure of ballot-boxes in a polling station in Barcelona on the day of an independence referendum for Catalonia banned by Madrid, October 1, 2017. (AFP PHOTO / PAU BARRENA)
The Spanish government says no referendum has taken place.
The ministry said 11 police officers were slightly injured in disturbances. Catalan officials say 337 people have been injured, some seriously, in clashes with police.
— AP
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