Economics
How to Stage an Illegal Referendum
- Catalan separatists plotting independence vote for past year
- Spanish police raided local business seeking ballot materials
Spain’s Dastis Wants Clarity From May on Brexit
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At secret locations across the rebel region of Catalonia, activists have hidden the ballot boxes they plan to deploy in an illegal referendum on independence next month.
Those stashes are just one element in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse as the separatists try to deliver a vote on Oct. 1 in defiance of the Spanish authorities. Police have already raided local businesses as they hunt for the ballot papers and officials suspected of helping organize the polling have been hauled in for questioning by prosecutors.