Catalan referendum material seized in Spain

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Spanish Civil Guards on Tuesday confiscated thousands of pro-referendum documents in Catalonia, authorities said.

The Spanish Constitutional Court has deemed the referendum to be illegal and ordered the seizure of anything which can be used to promote or allow the vote to take place.

Catalonia's regional President Carles Puigdemont stands with deputies after voting in a law to make formal its plans for an October 1 referendum in the Catalonian regional Parliament in Barcelona, Spain, September 6, 2017. /Reuters Photo

The census documents were seized during a search of the offices of the private messenger service company Unipost in the towns of Terrasa and Hospitalet, both of which are close to Barcelona.

It is believed to be the most important seizure in recent days because this material is related to the census for the election itself. Other raids have seen around a million and a half electoral propaganda posters taken away by police and Civil Guards.

Without the details of the census, it would be impossible for the Catalan regional authority to know who was and who was not eligible to vote and therefore impossible to maintain a semblance of control or democratic guarantees should the referendum be held in some form or other.

Unipost was dealing with the papers after the official Spanish post office Correos refused to deal with any material related to the election in accordance with the orders of the Constitutional Court.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency