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Article snippet: BARCELONA — Catalonia’s independence referendum is no longer about whether Catalans want statehood but whether they will be able to vote on Sunday at all. Far from the orderly vote that separatists wanted to stage, the referendum has instead turned into a covert operation to avoid a Madrid-ordered shutdown. The government of the conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has called on residents to stay home. With the help of Spanish courts and the police, it has confiscated paper ballots and closed referendum-related websites. The moves are an attempt to thwart the turnout and to deny any legitimacy to a referendum that Spain’s constitutional court has formally suspended. Nevertheless, Catalan officials and many residents say they will find a way to vote. In Barcelona and elsewhere in the region, some residents began occupying schools and other potential polling stations to thwart any attempt by the police to shut them down. One of the unknowns on Sunday will be the role of the Catalan autonomous police, which has paid lip service to Madrid’s orders to shut polling stations, but has made clear that its priority is to avoid violence. Any clampdown could help nullify Sunday’s result, but it could also backfire and prompt frustrated voters to take to the streets. Many now fear violent clashes. After each police intervention so far, the Catalan separatist government has defiantly announced that it had contingency plans for the referendum, and accused Madrid of returni... Link to the full article to read more