FREEDOMS of the press, speech and assembly, along with civil and human rights have all been undermined by the Spanish government as it tries to halt the October 1 independence referendum in Catalonia.

In a report, the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (Diplocat) has catalogued the growing threat to basic rights posed by the Madrid government sending police to search newspaper and other media offices; threatening to jail elected politicians and using the judiciary to try to stifle media reports about the poll.

Diplocat also highlighted attacks on various websites relating to the vote and the investigation of more than 700 Catalan mayors who had agreed to have polling stations in their town and cities.

It added that the presence of police had increased across Catalonia – including officers in riot gear – who had been briefed on their “legal obligation to stop any actions supporting the holding of an independence referendum”.

But Diplocat’s secretary general, Albert Royo Marine, told The National the poll would go ahead as planned: “The organisation of the referendum is well on track. The aggressive police offensive against the vote has been unsuccessful.

“No ballots nor ballot boxes have been found so far, only some campaign leaflets and printing material.

“We may now be facing the hardest period in terms of intimidation, scare-mongering and made-up judicial cases.

“The Spanish police has just launched an operation in Girona regarding an alleged corruption case which could affect [Catalan] President Puigdemont. As seen in the past, fake cases show up days ahead of the vote to pour a bucket of dirt on pro-indy leaders.

“It happened before the November 9, 2014 informal vote and before the September 27, 2015 regional election. Nothing was proved, the case was closed but nobody in the Spanish Ministry of Interior resigned nor apologised.”

He said he expected the pressure to “ease up” in the run-up to the poll, as international media gathered in Catalonia to report on it, and added: “Democracy shall prevail.”

In other developments, the first of the Catalan mayors called to court to explain why they supported the referendum, have appeared before prosecutors, backed by hundreds of supporters. Of Catalonia’s 948 municipal leaders, 745 have said they will provide venues for the poll.

The first three civic heads exercised their right to remain silent. Marc Solsona, mayor of Mollerussa, who is facing charges of civil disobedience, abuse of office and misuse of public funds told reporters outside the state prosecutor’s office in Barcelona: “Voting is not a crime. I’m just the mayor and I have to serve my people.

“I am committed to the people being able to vote on October 1 in accordance with the law passed by the Catalan parliament and what happens to me is not important.”

Catalan treasury minister Oriol Junqueras, meanwhile, has revealed that the Supreme Court allowed the appeal his government lodged against measures passed by Madrid to take control of Catalan finances.

Madrid brought in the measures on Friday to control Catalan government spending, and try to stop the use of public funds for the indyref, which Spain claims is illegal.

Spanish treasury minister, Cristobal Montoro, said the Catalan authorities could not be trusted to spend the money on essential public services. Supreme Court sources said admitting the appeal did not imply the automatic lifting of the measures, and a 10-day period would start to allow both parties to present their cases.

But Junqueras added: “The resources are ours, they are in bank accounts that are ours and we are sure that no third party would want to infringe the law.”