Catalonia Referendum: Spanish Raid on Unipost Deals Blow to Vote

Spanish police have discovered a mass of documents directly related to a banned Catalan independence referendum scheduled for 1 October, reported BBC. 

Early on Tuesday, the Guardia Civil arrived at offices of Spain's biggest private delivery company, Unipost, in the Catalan city of Terrassa.

Catalan police officers scuffled with pro-secession protesters trying to block the street outside.

Catalan leaders are defying a court order to halt the vote.

They are trying to organise the referendum, despite a series of attempts by the national government to prevent it going ahead.

The Madrid government has been backed up by Spain's Constitutional Court, which suspended the referendum law passed by the Catalan parliament.

Some 7.5 million people live in Spain's well-off north-eastern region. Although opinion polls have been rare, one survey commissioned by the Catalan government in July suggested that 41% of voters backed independence while 49% were opposed.