describing it as a mockery of democracy well independence support insists the referendum will go ahead karl penhall reports. schools have become a decisive political battleground families and so-called defense committees are camping out to ensure school stay open and double as polling stations procession volunteers here in barcelona of voter information through a nap these are the few square meters at stake the spot where a ballot box will be placed it's very exciting you know because it's like. so many people here are united just. with one cause in common but police are under orders from the spanish government to evict it isn't and shut down schools around dawn on sunday if that happens the referendum could be in jeopardy in madrid spain foreign minister criticized the catalan all thora his defiance we think. is the most. and. pushing is not democracy it's a mockery of democracy a travesty of democracy. referendum. do not. or do not equate democracy catalonia sprains wealthiest region it's a bit bigger than belgium its economy larger than greece or portugal has its own language and cultural identi

by spanish security forces earlier this week for planning next month's independence referendum karl penhall has the latest from barcelona. synchronized defiance. or not it's now or never it's impossible to delay this referendum and if the castle and government negotiates we will occupy the streets. the target of pro independence protesters on thursday was the supremes court in barcelona. the trigger was the arrested of more than a dozen cattle and government officials are directly responsible for the going izing the referendum. that prompted some older demonstrators here to draw parallels to general franco's dictatorship four decades ago this human to stop this franco style dictatorial regime must explode and we must set up a republic spain's central government has vowed to shut down what it declares is an illegal referendum so protesters brought along their own card ballot boxes. others printed their own voting slips with the kind of potato you know radio earlier spanish security forces confiscated more than ten million ballot papers that were. in there were no of the way or. the. other th

vote is gathering extra police have been drafted in five days out from that planned referendum karl penhall reports from barcelona. as the clock ticks down to the independence referendum in catalonia thousands of police reinforcements have been sent to this northeast region the central government clearly fear is that there could be public on the rest talking to police sources they say that now ten thousand members of national police and civil guard units have been sent here that represents a doubling almost a tripling of police levels in normal times in addition to focusing on writing government offices and also having arrested cats and i'm government public officials a lot of the security force attention seems to be focusing on websites and social media pages trying to promote the independence referendum. around one hundred forty web pages have been shut down the spanish interior ministry so far is refusing to give information on that in other developments spain's prime minister mariano rajoy is due to meet u.s. president donald trump in washington the issue of kaplan independence is not e

ahead of the ballot and sealed off more than half of the schools designated as polling centers karl penhall is in the capital and capital. on the one hand we assume police under orders from the spanish government to move into those schools and make sure that all the citizens there are a victim before dorner and those schools a sealed so that the vote cannot go ahead meanwhile we're seeing families including their children organize into defense committees they've moved into the schools to occupy them organizing campout they want to keep the schools open and ensure that this boat goes ahead safe spaces have been created for a range of children inside bangladeshi refugee camps where their families have fled to escape the violence in myanmar hundreds of ranger refugees are lining up to receive aid at the could have prolonged camp just across the border u.s. says it is maintaining direct channels of communication with north korea secretary of state rex tillerson is in beijing meeting his counterpart wangi on his second trip to the chinese capital this year the mayor of puerto rico's capital song

need to fight democratically ok let's drill down into the issues surrounding that story for you karl penhall reports now from barcelona. last thing at night activists stay up late campaigning for catalonia to break away. the first thing in the morning there i'd get up early calling for spain to stay. in. the spanish government has declared the secession ballot illegal but catalan interior minister form explained why regional authorities are pressing ahead. with the i mean the. government is not just trying to stop a referendum to stop. the citing its political future things have gone beyond a simple call for self-determination and what we're also debating here is the defense of democracy and of the most fundamental freedoms. dritte is stepping up efforts to stop the referendum many schools are going to be potential. centers and. into the area. madrid has also said it will take command of the capitol police force that is the source this. capital an authority is a resisting that order. the most also the security force of catalonia and they're responsible for law and order their role should be

month's vote on independence from spain the central government in madrid is trying to stop the vote karl penhall reports. the spanish flag flying on the street to pass a load of cattle and flag torn to shreds a cry for those citizens who oppose catalonia used it for independence they fear it could mark the breakup of spain. we will not allow the breakup of spain if that happens people will die there can be no half measures. the question of. it's is deeply divisive is fighting hard to calculate percentages for against due to lack of accurate opinion polls many define themselves as both cattle and and spanish you know look you know. i don't want a wall to separate us from spain all sponsors of my compatriots so i'm here to defend the unity of spain. it's a week until the planned referendum three opponents tampa's a frame. but this embrace she supports independence back spanish rule a sign that political foes can reconcile the we've come to heaven. there was a terrible decision it was to express this whole issue in the civil god having hearings and a series of great against the crew independence mo

from marcella karl penhall reports. we will vote they chant a vote to break away from the rest of spain good people should they threaten them or go see. catalonia as mayors brandishing their staffs of office echo their supporters. more than seven hundred man has gathered in barcelona state prosecutors are threatening to arrest them if they permit the independence referendum to be held in their towns the central government has declared the ballot illegal didn't think that's. the real doctor i'll sell is the central government regime we live under right now this regime simply did not do enough to rice the author or terry and legacy of the franco dictatorship catalan regional police guarded the mayor's during saturday's protest. within days the same police could get orders to detain them that they never got a list of those threatening to remove mayors is just a fraction of today's demonstration is to show we were not but. the cloud is firmly behind them. and many of those here today say they will not hesitate to take the s

all right karl penhall live for us in barcelona karl thank you. authorities in colombia say they're confident their long term plan to cut cocaine production is working that's despite u.s. concern about an increasing amount of illegal drugs coming from colombia and withdraw tens of million dollars millions of dollars in funding. reports. this area of southern colombia used to be covered with coca plants but most are gone thanks to a program trying to persuade where we farmers to switch crops this part of the country's peace efforts and. families signing up to receive subsidies of thousands of u.s. dollars in the first year well switching to alternatives such as coke or coffee they also receive help with infrastructure government officials former rebels and farmers strike the deals. if none are reached then the army may come into up three plants by hand. and you would a gore says most farmers remain suspicious of the government's ability to deliver but are cautiously optimistic. that this is a very good opportunity the government is offering we have

totalitarian state rather than the democracy that these people say they wish to live in good stuff karl penhall right in amongst. the catalan protest thank you. now iraq's kurdistan region is pushing ahead with an independence referendum of its own next monday despite once again pressure to call it off the president has remained defiant but as he reports many kurds are actually worried about the consequences of the vote. on the streets of silliman it's business as usual here there are no signs that the historic referendum is just a few days away. many believe it will be called off at the last hour there's like shut down there would be a worried about the consequences even though she plans to say yes i want my country to bend down and name is enough for me in so many because we don't trust after. our future is invisible we really don't know not next year we don't know what. happened tomorrow what. opposition to holding a vote now is trying to live in the main drive is coming from president. and his party and here they have little foothold his political opponents believe that the timing is wrong

and there have been students from the local universities occupying those schools my colleague karl penhall has been observing all of this for the past twenty four hours he put together a story and this is what he found. in the fields and into the political fray. these cattle farmers have found to turn the tractors into barricades if police try to crack down on the referendum. we have come to the fence the countryside and we are fighting for democratic rights on the right to protect children. as. you can see. with one hundred twenty five all wheel drive. this is like to. thank. the night before in the harsh light of a small square neighbors gather. this is one of many so cool defense committees grassroots groups controlled by any political party on a mission to defend the vote they strategizing to resist police were under orders to close down schools to stop them being used as polling stations. the children will sleep in the schools to stop the police closing them down we're afraid our neighborhood could be the first target of the police. marching to the same drum beat students have occupie

people in favor of a united spain have held a rally neither side shows any signs of backing down karl penhall reports from barcelona. schools have become a decisive political battleground families and so-called defense committees are camping out to ensure school stay open and double as polling stations procession volunteers here in barcelona of information through an app. a few square metres at stake the spot where the ballot box will be placed it's pretty exciting you know because it's like. so many people here are united just. with one cause in common but police are under orders from the spanish government to evict citizens and shut down schools that are around on sunday if that happens the referendum could be in jeopardy in madrid spain foreign minister criticised the catalan all thora t's defiance we think the law guarantees the most. pushing is not democracy it's a mockery of democracy a travesty of democracy. referendum. do not. democracy catalonia sprains wealthiest region it's a bit bigger than belgium its economy larger than greece or portugal has its own language and cultural identi

here is more from karl penhall reporting from barcelona. thousands of people have climbed into government square in downtown. chanting and chanting we will vote some of them carrying also the castle and independence flag this is a clear reflection of their determination to go ahead and vote in a referendum on october the. first to decide whether the catalonia region will break away from the rest of the reform thank you very much. for your argument. thank. you very much every month for the last. three months a very long to write of ok thank you for your vote i've already given the best thank you very much thank you for the first of all very much thanks for day you never said you were right thank you very much thank you for the record i am very much for your help necessary got a little respect thank you for your looks are going to storm through a forty four million dollars for an already fair election. let's look at the weather now with staff and looks at your back on hurricane watch basically doesn't matter where you look at the moment it se

illegal but castle an official say if the yes camp wins though declare independence within days karl penhall reports from barcelona. the. spanish police drew up a coup or made angry chants of. the spanish government is drafting thousands of police me and force words into catalonia with orders to block the referendum. secession activists say they're patient forces as well. and they're trying to frighten us with machine guns but i'm not afraid i'm eighty years old and i will fight as long as i can. many of the estimated ten thousand extra police ability fairies at barcelona port to avoid public hostility concern is growing within the ranks about how police are being thrust into the growing political crisis. alfonso union representative for the paramilitary civil. seeing the political climate seeing how society is reacting police morale is falling things are not good at all and the referendum could get very complicated. security forces have shut down dozens of websites promoting the referendum sparking spontaneous demonstrations. we met this computer program after he was released from questioni

police have already sealed off more than half of the schools let's go to barcelona now here is karl penhall overlooking that beautiful city there but wow tense was the word i use and i imagine the tension all these things building now absolutely you need to know when families start to organize themselves into citizens defense committees things have sunk to a new low they're simply occupying those schools trying to keep them open so that they can be used as voting stations the spanish central government has a different idea and this morning the civil guard police into the information technology department of the capitol and government shutting down software and applications that would be used to take count the votes in the event that the referendum goes ahead this is all part of the battle between regional and central government over whether this vote is legal at all that's why i want to bring in not a health care out she's a constitutional lawyer at hellyeah we're kind of going into unknown territory here because the constitution does say that this kind of referendum is not legal this is no

karl penhall has spent the day at the rally in barcelona thousands of independence supporters have not got that message many of them the been here since nine o'clock this morning they've been here for more than twelve oz as the work day ended thousands more from going to the streets they are angry because early this morning that police national police raided the offices the project finance offices of the catalonia regional government police also raided an industrial warehouse and seized more than ten million followed by the central government is staging an operation to try and shut down this referendum to stop it happening they're told i'm throwing the president's supporters are turning out and saying this is more about what i just want to kind of force over to this saw ok this is another group opposing the pending supporters who are for why don't the sunni. day of march have another pot of fossil long enough to join the main body of the protest yeah ok and swirling the right soft the movement swallow bottles on the street the protesters are not going home they are not farming the span

on independence from spain the central government in madrid is trying to crack down on dissent karl penhall reports to. the spanish flag flying on the streets of basra load of cattle and flag to shreds a rallying cry for those citizens who oppose catalonia his bid for independence they fear it could mark the breakup of spain. we will not allow the breakup of spain if that happens people will die they can be no half measures. the question of independence is deeply divisive but hard to calculate percentages for against due to lack of accurate opinion polls many here define themselves as both catalan and spanish you know look you know you're going to get away don't want to wall to separate us from spain but all spaniards of my compatriots so i'm here to defend the unity of spain. it's a week until the planned referendum opponents tampa's a frame. but this embrace she supports independence he backs spanish rule a sign that political foes can reconcile. a candidate here was what he said it was literally to express this whole issue in this civil god could have been in a series of raids against th

the past the event comes less than three weeks before a controversial referendum on independence karl penhall reports now from barcelona . from the sky you see the scale on the ground you feel the pulse. of the drumbeat of independence the catalonia. cameras and. we want independence for catalonia so we can separate from the spanish government some did not agree with us that this is a coup d'etat this is a rebellion in catalonia as national day began here the general government leaders pay tribute to the defenders of barcelona in a battle over three hundred years ago they've called a referendum for october the first to vote on breaking away from spain that set the stage where new battle perhaps the biggest political crisis since the end of general franco's dictatorship. central government says the referendum is undemocratic and illegal and is even threatening to fine and jailed regional authorities. but i thought maybe that let's enjoy the freedom to express ourselves and that live with the hope of a better future. on a podium a few streets away. a former guerrilla fighter is firing up suppor