Spanish police raided multiple Catalan regional government buildings and arrested several senior officials ahead of a disputed independence referendum.
Tensions over independence had been escalating for weeks between the wealthy northwest region and the Spanish central government before Josep Maria Jove, Catalonia’s junior economic minister, was arrested overnight along with eight others by Spain’s Guardia Civil police, an investigator told CNN.
The high-ranking Catalan officials’ arrests came as police raided three government buildings — the Presidency and the Ministries of Economy and Finance and Foreign Affairs — the Ministry of Catalonia confirmed to CNN.
An issue with the referendum’s website is believed to be the cause of the raids, according to a press officer from the regional government.
The Interior Ministry in Madrid would not confirm any arrests, citing an “ongoing operation.”
As the operation got underway, protesters had assembled outside the offices of Catalonia’s economy ministry in the heart of Barcelona’s tourist district, waving posters that read “Freedom for Catalonia” and shouting: “We will vote.”
Spain’s central government has banned the Catalan independence vote, but it appears the region will defy Madrid and go ahead with the ballot, planned for October 1.
The country’s Constitutional Court had suspended the vote after the central government in Madrid argued that Spain’s 1978 constitution declares that the country is indivisible, Reuters reported.
On Tuesday, police seized more than 45,000 envelopes prepared by the Catalan government to inform voters about the referendum, Reuters added.