Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s Prime Minister, has taken another step in his mission to prevent Catalonia from holding a referendum on its independence.
The Guardia Civil has been instructed by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia to block websites supportive of the independence vote - a vote judged illegal under Spain’s constitution - including the official website of the Catalan National Assembly, a civil body whose aim is to achieve independence for Catalonia.
The Guardia Civil has managed to block 140 web pages that supported the vote planned for October 1st, a vote which the Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, maintains will be held.
According to judicial sources quoted by the Spanish agency Efe, the web pages were shut down in compliance with a resolution taken on Saturday by the Catalan High Court that authorised law enforcement forces to block any websites that are supportive of the referendum.
This is one more of the police actions in recent days that have been designed to dismantle the mechanics of the referendum, despite Catalonian politicians supporting the vote.
Last week, more than a dozen Catalonian politicians were arrested and held and ferries carrying thousands of Guardia Civil reinforcements have docked in Caltalonian ports.
The ‘independentistas’ say that it is up to the Catalans, and the Catalans alone, to decide whether they want to remain a part of Spain while Madrid is citing the Constitution and insisting that the decision on any possible division of the country’s regions has to be taken by all Spaniards.
