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In the run-up to the 1st October referendum, police reinforcements are arriving by "land, air and sea", as the Catalan minister for the Presidency, Jordi Turull, said. One of the boats used by the Spanish National Police arriving by sea, now housing agents at the port in Barcelona, had set off a whole wave of jokes for the images painted on its sides. But now, where once were Tweetie Pie, Wile E. Coyote and Daffy Duck three green canvases have appeared, trying to hide the images.

Translation: Freedom for Tweetie Pie and Daffy Duck! (They can't be more ridiculous)

piolin vaixell

Just as when the boat first arrived, social media didn't take long to fill with jokes about the decision to cover the cartoons.

"...and then they came for Tweetie Pie, and I did not speak out."

Free Tweetie Pie 

WE WILL VOTE! [Above Tweetie Pie it reads "freedom of expression"] 

They're covering the Tweetie Pie on the police boat! Stop censorship 

Warning! They want to silence Tweetie Pie covering him with canvases. We're all Tweetie Pie.

In fact, the hashtag #freepiolin (free Tweetie Pie) is currently trending on Twitter. The pro-referendum organisation Crida per la Democràcia (Call for Democracy), has taken advantage of the situation to create a multi-coloured Tweetie Pie image, parodying their own earlier poster (their profile picture in the tweet below).