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Spain's shame - hundreds of voters injured by police on Catalonia referendum day

CatalanVoteBloodThe intransigence of the Catalan regional government and the government in Madrid under Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, has led to 844 members of the public being injured by police as Catalans tried as best they could to vote on their future, under or outside of Spanish control.

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said, "The unjustified use of violence... by the Spanish state will not stop the will of the Catalan people," speaking of unjustified violence dished out by the Guardia Civil and the National Police who had flooded the region to back up the local police force, Mossos d'Esquadra.

Rajoy is sticking to the constitution and "the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation, the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards," but Catalans want to vote on their own future and Carles Puigdemont has followed this path despite its illegality.

Of 465 people injured and treated by the health service, two are in a serious condition and remain in hospital, one of whom was hit by a rubber bullet and lost an eye. Madrid says 12 policemen have been injured and three people have been arrested..
 
Rubber bullets were fired into a crowd in Barcelona as thousands of voters tried to enter polling stations, many of which had been cordoned off.

According to Catalonia's President Carles Puigdemont, this "unjustified, disproportionate and irresponsible violence," involved the use of batons, rubber bullets and physical force to prevent Catalans from voting, adding that “the external image of the Spanish state today has reached a level of shame that will accompany it forever."

This referendum had been banned by the government with back up from the court, saying it would be illegal to have a vote on partition from Spain and that the Catalan police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, must respect orders from Madrid.

Not all local police obeyed orders from Madrid and this has been used as an excuse by the government for sending in the Guardia Civil and the National Police force, claiming it was forced into this deployment.

As the Mossos d'Esquadra closed only 92 of over 2,000 polling stations in Catalonia, this gave the national forces the opportunity to force entry to these sites, cutting chains, breaking down doors, seizing voting forms and trashing ballot boxes, with Spain's Deputy Prime Minister, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, saying that police, many of them wearing balaclavas, had "acted with professionalism and in a proportionate way."

The Ramon Llull school in Barcelona was the scene of a sustained operation, with police using axes to smash their way in, rushing the crowd and firing rubber bullets.

The Guardia Civil command said its officers were, "resisting harassment and provocation" while carrying out their duties "in defence of the law."

Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said police had "acted with professionalism and in a proportionate way."

One local said that "police started to kick people, young and old", adding, "Today, I have seen the worst actions that a government can do to the people of its own country."

Whoever is right and wrong, it is clear that diplomacy and political discussion broke down a good while ago, to be replaced with Spanish policemen using batons to thrash local Catalans wishing to vote for their futures.

The ballot papers contain just one question: "Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?" There are two boxes: Yes or No.

The last vote on this topic was slightly in favour of remaining with Spain but Rajoy’s hard-line approach, which has been criticised by significant media titles in Europe and the US, has swung opinion poll results towards independence.

The European Commission has yet to issue a statement on Sunday's violence, or the result which, of those that managed to cast a vote, 90% now are in favour of independence. 

 

For scenes of police violence, see:

https://mishtalk.com/2017/10/01/for-all-the-world-to-see-police-riot-brutality-videos-and-images-in-spain/

 

CatalanoliceVoilence2

 

 

 

http://www.iol.pt/multimedia/oratvi/multimedia/imagem/id/59d0bdec0cf2d0f9b7f3af4e/800

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Comments  

+2 #9 Laslow 2017-10-03 11:44
Can you imagine the feigned outrage and holier than thou comments from both the E.U. and their clones in the Spanish government if the U.K. government had instigated similar violent action with regards to the Scottish referendum.
As an east European living in the U.K. whose grandparents and parents existed and saw the same sort of violent oppression under the Soviet system I am sure U.K. is far better off well out of this totalitarian EUSSR.
+3 #8 Margaridaana 2017-10-02 15:21
I have just seen footage of a young woman in Catalonha being attacked by four or five 'policemen' for no other reason than she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The poor girl had had her skirt lifted to her midriff and it appeared that her fingers were being broken one by one by such a policeman. What sort of message is this sending to the world about Spain. Shame on you. Why not let the vote go ahead peacefully and debate the results afterwards, as any democratic country would do? And so far, no comment from the EU, but lots of comments from Spanish authorities saying everything was deemed correct and responsible. Savages. Can't imagine why anyone would want to live in Spain.
+6 #7 dw 2017-10-02 14:28
I can't think of any good reason why a referendum should be illegal. The result may be ignored, but why does it have to be stopped? Of course filming police is also illegal in Spain.
+9 #6 Chip 2017-10-02 11:22
Such is life under the dead hand of the EU, as pointed out by Marjolein.
+9 #5 marjolein Massis 2017-10-02 09:28
So ERDOGAN , the entree to the European Union is, with the help of some good lawyers, acceptable. As Brussel accepted 855 wounded and many arrested by the police in a small part of Spain named" Catalonia " (this is more or less the same amount of people as were abused, percentage wise, after the so called coup in a big land as Turkey) . And we , in Europe, can look forward, in the future, to less freedom for woman , certain to abuse from police and maybe army and even to the proposed ,in Turkey, death penalty . This sound all far fetched .But it is not. Remember how the second world war started. To much consideration with what was going on in Germany. And I will say it again. United Europe is based on, and tolerated by Brussel, on blackmail from the different Governments . Even Hungary is starting this game too. The Motto to Brussel is WE STAY IF YOU PAY in tolerance or money.
+9 #4 marjolein Massis 2017-10-01 20:36
The past and the present.
An advice from the Mayan God Ixchel to the Government in Madrid :
Do the best you can until you know better. When you know better do better.
+13 #3 marjolein Massis 2017-10-01 20:18
This must be an eye opener for the rest of Europe. Brussel is clearly accepting this police brutality ordered by the Government of a member state. Freedom of speech, one of the basic rights of democracy, is being curtailed in this sickening way and that is accepted by our future government in Brussel without comments. Our great -grandchildren may be treated in the future in the same way by order of Brussel. This is a clear exempel of the enormous difference in mentality between north and south of Europe. At the moment a United Europe is based on blackmail, it will and can not work.
+12 #2 nogin the nog 2017-10-01 19:51
Hmm.

Freedom can not be won without sacrifice. Well done to the brave souls who stood up to the draconian state paratroopers.
-5 #1 Pike 2017-10-01 18:50
Down Pyrenees not Europe

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