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Catalonia: Teachers and students prepare to open schools for referendum Catalonia referendum: Tractors roll into Barcelona to defend vote
(about 1 hour later)
Teachers and students at some schools in Catalonia are organising to keep schools open to serve as polling stations for Sunday's outlawed referendum on independence from Spain. Columns of tractors waving the lone-star flag of Catalan independence are converging on the region's towns to defend Sunday's banned referendum.
Coded messages are being sent on social media to make arrangements, La Vanguardia newspaper reports. Supporters cheered as a column of vehicles, dubbed a Tractorada, rolled into the capital, Barcelona, streaming past the famous Sagrada Familia church.
Catalan leaders have finally revealed the ballot boxes they plan to use.
The Spanish government has again pledged to stop the referendum, which it says is unconstitutional.
It is crunch time in Catalonia, where for the past five years the region's devolved government has demanded a referendum on independence from Spain, the BBC's Tom Burridge reports from Barcelona.
Under a law passed by the local parliament, Catalan leaders say they may declare independence from Spain within 48 hours of the vote.
"After the official proclamation of the results, which should take a few days. there is a period of 48 hours to proclaim independence but this does not exclude the possibility of us making yet another appeal on the night of the 1st [Sunday] for the need to sit down and talk to resolve this politically," Catalan President Carles Puigdemont told BBC News on Friday.
The wealthy region of 7.5 million people in north-eastern Spain has its own language and culture, and a high degree of autonomy, but it is not recognised as a separate nation by the Spanish state.
'Make it difficult'
Tractoradas (the word is possibly a play on the Spanish word Armada) could also be seen in Catalan towns like Girona and Tarragona on Friday.
"We are asking for tractors to be parked peacefully near polling stations and, if they try to close them, impede them or make it as difficult as possible," a member of one farmers' group, Gerard Batalla, told AFP news agency earlier this week.
"Simply leave them there, without going further."
A plastic ballot box was shown off to journalists on Friday at a news conference by Catalan Vice-President Oriol Junqueras and Raul Romeva, who handles foreign relations for the Catalan government.
Police have been under orders to confiscate all referendum materials and to prevent public buildings being used as polling stations, while key figures in the referendum campaign have been threatened with prosecution.
However, teachers and students at some schools are organising to keep them open for the vote, using coded messages on social media to make arrangements.
Hundreds of teachers gathered at the regional government's headquarters on Thursday, chanting "we will open" and "we will vote".Hundreds of teachers gathered at the regional government's headquarters on Thursday, chanting "we will open" and "we will vote".
Madrid vows to prevent the poll.
It is crunch time in Catalonia, where for the past five years the region's devolved government has demanded a referendum on independence from Spain, reports the BBC's Tom Burridge from Barcelona.
Catalonia's government has said it could declare independence from Spain within 48 hours of the vote.
But Spain is likely to deploy thousands of national police officers, currently stationed on board two cruise ships docked in Barcelona's port, to disrupt any voting, and ultimately to guarantee Spanish sovereignty over Catalonia, our correspondent says.
The wealthy region of 7.5 million people in north-eastern Spain has its own language and culture, and a high degree of autonomy. But it is not recognised as a separate nation by the Spanish state.
Catalan leaders have appealed for help from the European Union, saying Madrid has undermined the bloc's democratic values. On Friday, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said he would work towards a political solution.
He told Italian news agency Ansa that the referendum was illegal but that both the Madrid government and the devolved administration in Catalonia needed to reach a settlement on the matter.
But Spanish Health Minister Dolors Montserrat on Friday ruled out dialogue on the issue, calling instead for the resignation of Catalan President President Carles Puigdemont, El Mundo newspaper reports.
In a press conference, government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo reiterated Madrid's determination to block the vote.
"There will be no referendum on 1 October," he said. "This secessionist process has been illegal from the outset. It is the duty of a law-governed state to prevent this from happening."
Teachers and students have played a high-profile role in the campaign for the referendum to go ahead, prompting Madrid to threaten the regional education ministry with legal action over its alleged failure to protect minors, El Mundo reports.
Students have gone "on strike" and have left classes to join rallies.
According to Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia, referendum activists are planning to keep some schools open all weekend in preparation for polling on Sunday.
There are also plans to use tractors to block security forces from shutting the premises.
A website - escolesobertes.eu ("open schools") - has been set up so people can track which schools are open.A website - escolesobertes.eu ("open schools") - has been set up so people can track which schools are open.
Mr Puigdemont attended Thursday's meeting of teachers at the headquarters of the autonomous government, where he praised educationalists for "backtracking not one millimetre in our fundamental rights". 'Takes two to tango'
He told school principals he "understood their anxieties" about resisting orders from Madrid, but assured them that ultimate "responsibility lies with our government". Spain is likely to deploy thousands of national police officers, currently stationed on board two cruise ships docked in Barcelona's port, to disrupt any voting, and ultimately to guarantee Spanish sovereignty over Catalonia, our correspondent says.
He admitted that the vote was fraught with difficulty, but added: "For each difficulty, two solutions, and for every fear, three hopes." Restrictions have been introduced on commercial light aircraft and helicopters flying over Barcelona this weekend to prevent activists trailing banners, according to local media.
In an interview for the BBC, Spanish government spokesman Iñigo Mendez de Vigo blamed the Catalan government for the stand-off, suggesting it had been both inflexible and one-sided.
"We can change the constitution if there is a consensus in order to change it," he said.
"There isn't a consensus in order to change the Spanish constitution, so this is why the Catalan government acts unilaterally. It takes two to tango and in this case the Spanish government was always ready to talk but they didn't want to dance."
"There will not be any referendum in Catalonia," he told a news conference.
Catalan leaders have appealed for help from the European Union, saying Madrid has undermined the bloc's democratic values. On Friday, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said he would work towards a political solution.
He told Italian news agency Ansa the referendum was illegal but that both the Madrid government and the devolved administration in Catalonia needed to reach a settlement on the matter.