Defiant Catalans vote on split from Spain despite crackdown

[DonViejo]

Source: Reuters




#WORLD NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2017 / 12:04 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Spanish riot police burst into polling stations across Catalonia on Sunday confiscating ballot boxes and voting papers to try to halt a banned referendum on a split from Spain as Madrid asserted its authority over the rebel region.

Police broke down doors to force entry into voting stations as defiant Catalans shouted ‘Out with the occupying forces!” and sang the anthem of the wealthy northeastern region. In one incident in Barcelona, police fired rubber bullets.

The referendum, declared illegal by Spain’s central government, has thrown the country into its worst constitutional crisis in decades and deepened a centuries-old rift between Madrid and Barcelona.

Despite the police action, hundreds-strong queues of people formed in cities and villages throughout the region to cast their votes. At one Barcelona polling station, elderly people and those with children entered first.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-spain-politics-catalonia/defiant-catalans-vote-on-split-from-spain-despite-crackdown-idUSKCN1C60YA

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Catalan referendum: 'Hundreds injured' in clashes

Catalan officials say at least 337 people have been injured in clashes as police try to prevent voting in Catalonia's independence referendum.

The Spanish government has pledged to stop a poll that was declared illegal by the country's constitutional court.

Police officers are preventing people from voting, and seizing ballot papers and boxes at polling stations.

In the regional capital Barcelona, police used batons and fired rubber bullets during pro-referendum protests.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41461032

This is going to be big for a long time, with that many injuries.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Live updates:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2017/oct/01/catalan-independence-referendum-spain-catalonia-vote-live

The Guardian’s Sam Jones has spoken to Jesús López Rodríguez, a 51-year-old administrator who lives opposite the Ramon Llull school, who witnessed this morning’s violent police raid on the polling station.

We were in the street from 5am. Hundreds of us were waiting to vote peacefully. The ballot boxes came at about 7.30am. Around eight o’clock, we saw seven national police vans. Half an hour later, the police came in riot gear with shields and helmets. The told us that the Catalan high court had ordered them to take the ballot boxes and they told us that we needed to disperse. We said, ‘No! No1 No!’. Then about 20 police officers charged us. It was short - about two minutes - and we stayed together. I heard the chief officer telling them to retreat. But they just stopped and stayed there for about 15 minutes. Then eight or nine national vans came and they cordoned off the surrounding streets. We were pushing back and forth until they started to arrest people. They dragged people out violently. We stood our ground but they dragged people away, kicking them and throwing them to the ground … Lots more police came - maybe 100 or more. When they saw they couldn’t get into the main building, they jumped over the fence and went in. They came out with ballot boxed 10 minutes later and they broke down the doors [of the school] with axes. They left with the ballot boxes. There were a lot of police but we stayed there trying to vote. We looked around for other places to vote and then we came back Half an hour later, we saw lots of police vans on Gran Vía. Then, at about 10.25am, they started to shoot rubber bullets - at least 30 or 40. People were running away, scared and totally defenceless. I ran towards the shots but my wife pulled me back. I was down there for a lot of hours this morning and I didn’t hear one insult [towards the police] … I feel really angry about it but I also hope that people in Europe and around the world see what’s happening in Catalonia.

Stephen Burgen has spoken to Martí Pont, 19, who was among the occupants of the Escola Ramon Llull school when Spanish police arrived in force. Video footage shows officers dragging voters out by their hair and throwing people down stairs at the school.

“I was there last night and there were a couple of dozen people but when I went back at 5.30am there were maybe 300. The Mossos came, saw how many people there were, and left. A couple of hours later the ballot boxes arrived and we all started applauding. It was raining heavily. Then seven vanloads of Policia Nacional arrived. We all gathered around the front door and kept calm. There were some elderly people but no kids. Then 15 police in body armour and five more wearing balaclavas arrived. They started pushing us with their shields and throwing us aside but there were too many of us. Then more and more vanloads arrived from all sides.

They started pushing through and pulling people out. Then they broke in through another door and took away the ballot boxes and voting papers. Right then people didn’t know what to do because there were police in front and behind. They started dragging us out, often by the throat. Lots of women were dragged out by the hair. Then we saw them put the ballot boxes in a Seat, an ordinary car. We sat down in front of and behind their vans so they couldn’t leave. They took out their truncheons and began separating us. We went down carrer Marina, blocking them street by street. They started hitting us with truncheons but didn’t use their guns. We met up with another group and the police warned journalists to go away. They ran off and the police started firing rubber bullets. This was at the junction of Diputació and Sardenya. Everyone who could, fled, but others got hit, in the back and the knee. Everyone went off to find somewhere else to vote.

[DavidDvorkin]

3. I imagine that some Catalans who were on the fence before this

Are now pro-independence.

[christx30]

4. Found this post on Imgur.

https://imgur.com/gallery/lx7eS

Images from the police crackdown on Catalonia Independence vote. I honestly had no opinion on it before this. Now seeing the crackdown, I'm pro-independence. Screw Spain.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Video of police throwing sit-in protesters down stairs, pulling them by their hair

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-41459692/catalonia-video-shows-violence-as-police-tackle-voters

Yeah, this is going to get a lot of people to be pro-independence now. This is oppression by the state.