Police arrest Catalan officials in raids

MADRID: Spanish police arrested Catalonia’s junior economy minister yesterday in their first raid of government offices in the region ahead of an unauthorised referendum on independence, Catalan government sources said.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the offices of the regional government’s economy ministry in the centre of Barcelona’s tourist district, chanting ‘‘They will not pass’’ and ‘‘We will vote’’, a witness said.

Police efforts to stop a planned October 1 vote on splitting from Spain have intensified in recent days as the wealthy northeastern region shows no signs of halting a referendum which the central government says is illegal.

State police entered offices of the Catalan region’s economy, interior, foreign affairs, welfare, telecommunications and tax departments, the sources said. A dozen highranking local officials were reported arrested.

The police confirmed they were carrying out raids con nected with the banned referendum, but did not give details.

The Constitutional Court has suspended the vote after the central government challenged its legality. Spain’s central government says the referendum goes against the country’s 1978 constitution which states Spain is indivisible.

Police, acting under court orders, have stepped up raids on printers, newspaper offices and private delivery companies in recent days in a search for campaign literature, instruction manuals for manning voting stations and ballot boxes.

On Tuesday, Spain’s Civil Guard, a national police force, seized more than 45,000 envelopes packed in cardboard boxes that the Catalan government was ready to send to notify people around the region about the referendum.

The first of hundreds of Catalan mayors were also forced to appear before the state prosecutor on Tuesday after they said they would back the referendum.