BARCELONA (Sputnik) — Activists and local residents have "occupied" a majority of schools in Barcelona, which tomorrow will be turned into polling stations for a disputed Catalan independence referendum, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
Locals are using festive activities, district fiestas and street festivals as a pretext to keep school doors open through the night until Sunday morning, when, at 9:00 a.m. local time (7:00 GMT), a designated electoral administration will arrive to open polling stations across the city.
According to a local resident and father whose kids attend the Gracia district school, local police "mossas" have already visited the school, established the peaceful nature of the party, and left.
"People, who gathered here, are not only the supporters of the Catalan independence. In fact, some of us will vote against. We just want to cast our ballots somewhere peacefully, that is why we are here to keep this public place open," Jofre Mateu told Sputnik at the Josep M Jujol Garcia school premises.
He noted that local parents on the school's premises were planning on spending the whole night in the school.
"There are a lot of locals here, fathers and mothers, who take their kids to this school. We are organizing a weekend festival in the school and plan to stay here through the night," he said.
Preparing the voting hall. #CatalonianReferendum #Catalonia pic.twitter.com/474u73SsAq
— Doggobule (@dasBule) September 30, 2017
When asked about the referendum outcome, he said that he was pretty sure that Catalonia would vote overwhelmingly for its independence.
Another local resident told Sputnik that she had not made her mind yet whether she would vote "Yes" or "No."
"I don't know how I will vote tomorrow. I don't even know if they will let us vote. Both governments have acted wrongly in this situation. Our governments should agree on something, negotiate a deal instead of putting all the responsibility on the Catalan people's shoulders and obliging them to act illegally and be subjected to fines," Maria said.
When asked about the likely outcome of the referendum, she noted that it was hard to predict, as the Catalan society was polarized along political lines. However, Maria noted that she expected the "Yes" vote to win, explaining that those people who wanted to stay united with Madrid would stay at home and not vote.
According to the latest poll, released by the National newspaper, if the Spanish government was to boycott the referendum, 83 percent of voters would vote for independence, with voter turnout reaching 62 percent. Therefore, the total number of voters who would say "yes" to independence would reach 2.7 million people, while the number of those who would vote against might amount to 527,000 people.
