Catalan Independence Referendum Website Shut Down by Barcelona Court's Order

The official website of the Catalan government devoted to the region's independence referendum has been blocked.

MADRID (Sputnik) — The official website of the Catalan Generalitat (government) devoted to the referendum on the region's independence from Spain has been blocked by Barcelona's court order.

The officers of the Spanish Guardia Civil entered on Wednesday the office of CDMon company, which is responsible for the technical support of the website, and delivered the court order. The company's employees then blocked the domain.

Following the shutdown of the website, Carles Puigdemont, the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, posted in a tweet the address of the new website of the Catalan independence referendum — www.ref1oct.cat.

On September 6, Catalonia’s Parliament passed a bill enabling an independence referendum to be held on October 1. The Spanish government called the bill illegal and challenged the legislation in the Constitutional Court. The next day, Spain's Constitutional Court suspended the Catalan law on referendum.

Catalonia has been seeking independence from Spain for years. On November 9, 2014, about 80 percent of the Catalans who took part in a non-binding referendum on the region's status as part of Spain voted in favor of Catalonia becoming an independent state. However, the independence vote was ruled unconstitutional by Madrid.