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Barcelona game to be played without fans amid Catalonia vote

Spanish riot police removes fences thrown by people to them as they try to prevent people from reaching a voting site at a school assigned to be a polling station by the Catalan government in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, 1 Oct. 2017. Catalan pro-referendum supporters vowed Saturday to ignore a police ultimatum to leave the schools they are occupying to use in a vote seeking independence from Spain. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) Spanish riot police removes fences thrown by people to them as they try to prevent people from reaching a voting site at a school assigned to be a polling station by the Catalan government in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, 1 Oct. 2017. Catalan pro-referendum supporters vowed Saturday to ignore a police ultimatum to leave the schools they are occupying to use in a vote seeking independence from Spain. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

By Associated Press October 1, 2017 1 min read

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – Barcelona’s Spanish league game against Las Palmas will be played without fans at the Camp Nou Stadium amid the controversial referendum on Catalonia’s independence on Sunday.

Barcelona made the closed-doors announcement with less than a half hour to kickoff, with thousands of soccer fans already waiting outside the stadium.

The club wanted the game to be postponed, but it said that the Spanish league refused to do this.

More than 300 people were injured Sunday as Spanish authorities tried to half the independence vote that the central government said was unconstitutional.