140 pro-independence websites shut down in Catalonia

Spanish security operations to thwart a controversial secession referendum in the northeastern region of Catalonia were continuing on Tuesday as online operations rendered over 140 pro-independence web pages inaccessible.

Sources from the ongoing investigation into the referendum bid told Efe news that among the sites seized by police was that of the Catalonian National Assembly (ANC), an organisation that promotes the region's independence from Spain which later confirmed, however, that its web page was still accessible through its European Union domain name (.eu).

Other websites were replaced by a message from Spain's militarised police, the Guardia Civil, which read: "This domain has been seized and will be brought before a judge."

Acting on judge's orders, the Guardia Civil has been tasked with confiscating all referendum-related material in Catalonia, including websites deemed to incite the separatist poll.

The referendum has already been suspended as unconstitutional by the highest rung of Spanish judiciary, the Constitutional Court.

Despite legal action orchestrated by Madrid, Spain's capital and seat of power, separatist officials in Catalonia, including regional president Carles Puigdemont, have pushed ahead with plans to hold the referendum on October 1.

Madrid has begun buffering Guardia Civil numbers in Catalonia amid rising tensions in the affluent region.

A group of residents in Algeciras, a port city in the south of Spain, came out to show their support and waved Spanish flags for a unit of Guardia Civil officers leaving their station en route to Catalonia.

--IANS

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