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The central government insisted Sunday’s poll will not go ahead as police sealed off a swathe of schools which had been designated as polling stations. But pro-independence leader Carles Puigdemont, President of the Catalan Generalitat, told crowds in Barcelona that Catalonia had already “defeated the state” in its bid for autonomy. At a rally attended by thousands in the city to mark the end of the campaign on Friday, he boasted: "We have already won.

“We have overcome the fears, the threats, the pressures and the lies. We have defeated a state that didn’t want to let us get here.” Mr Puigdemont said he was convinced the ballot would take place tomorrow and would finally pave the way for an independent Catalan state. He declared: "Let's end the process and start the social, economic, cultural and national progress".

GETTY An independence referendum has been banned

GETTY Crowds gathered in Barcelona ahead of the poll

GETTY Police clash with independence campaigners

"We have achieved what was only a dream, on Sunday we have a date with the future. "Next week we will begin to walk firmly, dressed in sovereignty and the dignity that the State wanted to take away from us.” Bands played at the closing rally where people constructed the slogan "Referendum is democracy" in big white letters on a stage in front of a cheering crowd, many draped in the red-and-yellow Catalan flag. The Generalitat’s Vice-President, Oriol Junqueras, said the campaign had been marked by the "firmness and serenity” of people in defending their rights.

He told supporters: "To build a better world for us and for our children, Catalans, don’t give up. We are not afraid. "Democrats around the world, we are the product of many difficulties and many defeats, but we are also the seed of all victories.” Police have confiscated thousands of voting slips, and courts have fined and threatened to arrest regional officials. Catalonia's High Court ordered Google to delete a smartphone app that the Catalan government was using to spread information about the vote. Madrid, which claims the authority of a constitution that declares the country to be indivisible, remains opposed to the vote, but also hopes Sunday will be peaceful.

Spain crisis: Protest outside the Catalan High Court Fri, September 22, 2017 Pro-Independence Associations called for a meeting in front of the Catalan High Court building demanding release of the 14 officials arrested yesterday during a Spanish Police operation in an attempt to stop the region's independence referendum, due to take place on October 1, which has been deemed illegal by the Spanish government in Madrid Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 8 People demonstrate in front of the Catalan High Court building