Sputnik/ Alexei Vitvitsky
EUROPE
08:30 01.10.2017(updated 10:37
Catalan residents have started casting ballots under the referendum on the region's independence from Spain with polling stations having opened at 9:00 a.m. local time (07:00 GMT), a Sputnik correspondent reported on Sunday.
Thousands of local residents are standing in lines by the polling stations from about 5:00 a. m. (03:00 GMT) under the pouring rain waiting for the start of the referendum.
As early as Friday night, some activists and local families came with children to polling stations at schools to prevent police from shutting them down before the referendum. However, according to the Spanish police, on Saturday over 1,300 schools out of 2,315 were sealed.
The Catalan authorities are holding the independence vote this Sunday. The Spanish government called the referendum bill adopted by the Catalan parliament on September 6 illegal and challenged the legislation in the Constitutional Court, which resulted in the law's suspension making all the preparations for the referendum illegal.
The Catalan police closed on Sunday more than 15 polling stations that were going to be used for Catalonia's referendum on the region's independence from Spain, local media reported.
At one of the closed polling stations, police officers were surrounded by a group of people and had to call for reinforcements, the EFE news agency reported citing its sources in law enforcement bodies.
According to the Vanguardia media outlet, a police helicopter is flying over Barcelona.
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