Spain ramps up its crackdown on Catalan independence vote

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Protesters accused them of authoritarianism. So they accused protesters of "sedition".

Spain's beleaguered Conservative rulers on Friday further escalated their Catalan crackdown.

And they did so, their critics said, by living up to the very "totalitarian" jibes they objected to.

Shrugging off international and domestic calls for calm, Madrid authorities on Friday ordered more police in to Catalonia ahead of what they say will be an illegal independence referendum a week on Sunday.