Catalan police urged government to call off referendum, says former official

Catalan police officials tried to convince the government to call off the independence referendum on October 1, 2017, the official responsible for planning and security at the time of the vote, Emili Quevedo, told the Supreme Court on Monday morning.

Testifying in the trial of Catalan independence leaders, Quevedo said that the former head of the Catalan police, Josep Lluís Trapero, met with top government officials on two occasions "to persuade them not to hold the referendum."

According to Quevedo, there was "concern" among the Catalan police leadership over the "climate of tension and over security" on the day of the vote that had been ruled illegal by Spanish courts.

"We knew there'd be a lot of people and that there could be security problems in some potential confrontations between those for and against the referendum," he said.