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The prefecture of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) has given the order to comply with the Public Prosecutor's requirement that they go to all the centres to be used as polling stations on 1st October and that they ask those in charge if they have given over their keys and if they have any material to carry out the referendum.

The Public Proscutor gave its order late yesterday afternoon, anticipating that some centres would already have ballot boxes and/or documentation. They asked the Mossos to take a statement from every centre and to warn those in charge that they cannot hand over their keys. If they have already handed over keys, the police are to prevent the centre being opened for voting. They also have to communicate any kind of threat, coercion or pressure they have received from any authority to offer their centre as a polling station.

Sources within the general management of the Catalan police have told El Nacional that the Mossos have always complied with the orders of the Public Prosecutor and that the disagreement is over who coordinates the police forces (the Mossos, the Civil Guard and Spain's National Police) that have to provide security around the referendum

At midday yesterday, the Mossos' leadership sent the Public Prosecutor a memo arguing that there are already planned mechanisms to coordinate the police forces. This letter has not just received a reply, although it's possible that this will come in tomorrow's meeting between police commanders and the Prosecutors

In yesterday's meeting at the building of the Delegation of the Spanish government, Ferran López, the head of the superior territorial commission and one of Mossos' chief Josep Lluís Trapero's right hand men, delivered a copy of the letter sent that morning. He also communicated that the Mossos do no recognise Spanish Interior Ministry official Francisco Pérez de los Cobos having been named as their commander and that coordination between the three bodies has to be done via the specific mechanisms already established in regulations.

López also delivered in the meeting all the information previously requested by the Prosecutor about the previsions of security resources the Mossos have designed for the referendum.

Ferran López attended the meeting because he was considered to be the most appropriate person. The summons did not officially request the presence of Trapero and so he delegated it to the senior official he believed best for the job.

The requirement

The first section is "Centre details" including name, address and town, telephone and fax numbers, type of establishment and email.

The second section is "Details of the person in charge of the centre" including full name, role, National ID number, place and date of birth, mother's and father's names, address and town and telephone number.

The third section is a yes/no question as to whether they have received a request to collaborate with the 1st October referendum. The longer questions then ask:

1. If it was an oral message, who did it come from and what did they say.

2. If it was a written message, they require all the documentation received, with details to be noted on the sheet.

3. If they have received any materials for carrying out the referendum (it suggests ballot papers, ballot boxes, voter lists, computers), they are also to be handed over, with details noted on the sheet.