Spain’s deployment of boatloads of military police to Catalonia to prevent its independence referendum hit obstacles yesterday as dockers in two ports announced a boycott and a third denied them mooring.

More than 4000 members of Spain’s Guardia Civil are being dispatched to Catalonia amid concerns over divided loyalties in the autonomous community’s own police force, the Mossos d’ Esquadra. They are to be accommodated on four cruise ships - two in the port of Barcelona, one in Tarragona and another in Palamos.

But, as thousands took to the streets in Barcelona for a second day of protest over the detention of Catalan officials, local dock workers joined the backlash.