The heavy-handed tactics of prime minister Mariano Rajoy turned to chaos and clashes as police moved to block the Catalonia independence vote. European politicians are shocked.
Riot Police Attack Voters in Girona, Hundreds Injured Nationwide
That image does not convey the brutality accurately. Please play the video.
UK Labour Leader Cites Shocking Police Violence in Tweet
Barcelona Mayor Calls on Rajoy to Resign
The Guardian reports Hundreds injured as riot police storm Catalan referendum polling stations.
The mayor of Barcelona said 460 people had been injured after Spanish police in riot gear stormed polling stations to prevent Catalonia’s independence referendum from going ahead on Sunday.
Although many Catalans managed to cast their ballots in the poll, which the Spanish authorities have declared illegal, others were forcibly stopped from voting as schools housing ballot boxes were raided by the national police.
The large Ramon Llull school in Barcelona was the scene of a sustained operation, with witnesses describing police using axes to smash their way in, charging the crowds and firing rubber bullets.
Similar scenes were reported elsewhere. Riot police smashed the glass doors of the sports centre near Girona where Puigdemont had been due to vote. Despite forcing their way in, they failed to stop the Catalan president voting. Pictures showed him casting his ballot in nearby Cornella del Terri.
The Catalan health ministry said 216 people were hurt in Barcelona, 80 in Girona, 64 in Lleida, 53 in Terres de l’Ebre, 27 in Catalunya central and 25 in Tarragona. The two most seriously injured were in hospitals in Barcelona.
The Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, told crowds the “police brutality will shame the Spanish state for ever”, while the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, demanded an end to the police actions and called for the resignation of the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy.
Guardian Live Report
The Guardian Live reports.
- 465 people have been injured as Catalans vote in an “illegal” referendum on the region’s independence, according to the Catalan health ministry. The two most seriously injured are in hospitals in Barcelona.
- Voting has been marred by a brutal police crackdown. Videos show police hitting people in the crowd with batons while voters hold up their hands, police dragging voters from polling stations by their hair, and Spanish police attacking Catalan firefighters.
- The police action has been mostly confined to Barcelona, the Catalonian capital. There has been no police presence in the majority of voting stations throughout the region.
The Spanish authorities and Catalan police have released further details on the number of polling stations they have closed down today.
- Spanish national police have closed down 46 in total (27 in Barcelona, six in Tarragona, six in Girona and seven in Lleida).
- The Guardia Civil have closed another 46 (14 in Barcelona, 12 in Tarragona, eight in Girona and 12 in Lleida).
- Catalan police, the Mossos, say they have closed 244 polling stations across Catalonia.
- In total, 336 polling stations have been closed down by local and national authorities.
To put these numbers in context, the Catalan government says more than 2,000 polling stations were set up across the province for the referendum. The majority remain open.
Confirmed Lie?
If indeed only 336 out of thousands of voting stations are closed, prime minister Mariano Rajoy is caught red-handed in a huge lie.
Yesterday the government said most of the stations were secured. Clearly, they weren’t.
Expect more lies from Rajoy (both sides if you wish to be fair, but the majority will come from Rajoy).
Rajoy Won’t Survive
Yesterday I stated Mariano Rajoy will not survive as prime minister. Today’s actions seal the fate.
The cowards at the EU have yet to issue a statement.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Spain has not been a democracy for that long in the scheme of things; are we seeing a revert to something awful.
Little of Yurp has been a democracy for that long – Spain / Franco, Germany / Hitler, France / Napoleon, Italy / Mussolini … I am sure there have been many more. And of the EU leaders we have heard nothing about this nonsense. What we are seeing is the reversion of Yurp into what the elite want it to be, and what the Yurpeons have willingly let it become.
The EU has shown its true colors. They are gestapo in their tactics. The Catalans on the other hand have shown tremendous resolve in the face of threats and shown up in the streets to vote and resist the goons of the Spanish national guard. This video is an example of the authoritarianism of the Spanish police.
https://twitter.com/saulocorona/status/914531619310063617
So true. Many instances of verbal threats from the EU. Difference is Spain is acting it out.
Notice how they would be on their high horses if this was Turkey.
The hypocrisy is boundless and nauseating.
I told you so.
Power settles everything.
Do you hear the U.S. condemning this police action to thwart the vote of the people? Nope!
We only believe in democracy and self-determination when it suits our interests.
Connect the dots.
“We only believe in democracy and self-determination when it suits our interests.”
The powers that be only believe in democracy and self-determination when it suits their interests. Fixed it for you. You incorrectly implied involvement by U.S. citizens in that hypocrisy. They’re mostly clueless on such issues and only know and believe what they’re spoon fed.
Ignorance is no defense.
Those Americans who accept the BS they they’re “spoon fed” are willful participants.
The majority of Americans believe in democracy and self-determination when it suits our interests.
So I’ll continue to use the pronoun “we”.
Self determination and lynchmob’ism (aka democracy) are about as diametrically opposed as things can get.
Catalonia’s Dark Days Ahead
by Don Quijones • Sep 30, 2017
“It isn’t just about what happens on Sunday; it’s about the ensuing days and weeks.”
https://wolfstreet.com/2017/09/30/dark-days-ahead-for-catalonia/
“The next 72 hours could be crucial not only for Catalonia, but also for the rest of Spain and Europe. For now, the cards are overwhelmingly stacked in Madrid’s favor. The central government enjoys the outward support of all European institutions, key Western partners and has the full power of the law on its side as well as the full arsenal of state repression at its disposal.”
They have those things .. for now. What they do NOT have is the approval of their people. Governments can survive for a while without such, but not in the long term. I hope this does not become the first tremblors of a Richter 9+ earthquake.
Spain is creating the perfect example of how not to deal with independence movements. All that’s left is for Rajoy’s thugs to kill someone….The moral war is completely lost, and Catalonia will now be forced to secede.
The standard tactic is to spread false rumors about somebody being killed by the police. I wonder if we will see it this time too.
Because Mish will never be “fair and balance”. Here you have how the pacific independistas work:
http://videos.elmundo.es/v/0_pguav0tn-una-turba-expulsa-a-la-guardia-civil-a-pedradas-en-sant-carles-de-la-rapita-tarragona?uetv_pl=0&count=0
Also about “self-determination”:
Lets not forget that Puigdemont against Kurdistán in 2014
http://www.abc.es/espana/catalunya/abci-puigdemont-voto-contra-independencia-kurdistan-parlament-2014-201709242339_noticia.html?#ns_campaign=mod-outbrain&ns_mchannel=abc.es&ns_source=organico&ns_linkname=mobile&ns_fee=MB_1
Hello Carlos, someone as biased as you can never admit anyone who does not hold your exact views can be fair.
It is irrelevant what happened with Kurdistan. Do people have the right of self-determination or not? If the law allowed slavery would you uphold it?
You throw a cloud smoke of nonsense then accuse me of being unfair. What is unfair about the rights of people to decide?
Oh the irony: You are the one who will never be fair!
Which people decide which people decide on what.
If someone has an answer I think it would be very welcome.
Everyone decides for themselves. And are properly armed, so as to not be easily overruled.
No the fact is that when Puigdemont had the opportunity to vote for another region self-determination he decided to vote against. The fact that you don’t see the hypocrisy of Puigdemont speaks volumes. You talk about new pool that gives %80 of the vote to SI. I mean I still remember when you criticized the pools about Brexit and Hilary because they lacked transparency and were bias. Yet without shame you quote a pool conducted by a pro-Scotland independence that they only thing they disclose is: Well we called 3300 people.
I mean really.
The reality is that you hate the EU pure and simple.
As for Rajoy resigning not sure if that will happen. What I can tell you is that independance will not happen and that the PP will remain president Rajoy or Soraya Sáenz.
BTW I would like to see what Trump (yes the guy you voted for) will do if the Supreme court tells him to stop a secessionist referendum
Nationalism comes in all shapes and sizes, on both sides.
Power is with Spain, let’s see how they exercise it to show their true character.
If this is fine with the EU authorities, as it appears to be, I’m not looking forward to EU armed forces…
Spot-on. Watch out.
You only have to read what they do to those exposing corruption in the EU to understand where this is going.
The fate not only of Rajoy, but Spain in its current configuration, is sealed.
Madrid is using the Soviet Solution to deal with separatism; Spain’s fate shall thus be the same as that of the Soviet Union.
With Catalunya in chaos due to authoritarian intervention by Madrid, other restive regions like Basque Country will demand their independence too.
The overextended and terrified central authorities will freak out, there will be an effort to assert central control through force (as happened in the August Cpup in Moscow). The army and police will refuse to open fire on their own friends and family, and it will fail.
The whole state will dissolve into nothing months afterwards, its moral authority and legitimacy completely gone.
A rump Spanish state will emerge, similar to the greatly diminished Russian federation, alongside a newly independent Catalunya and Basque state.
I wasn’t against the EU until recently. Now the very idea disgusts me and I wonder why I didn’t see it sooner.
http://www.azquotes.com/picture-quotes/quote-the-eu-is-the-old-soviet-union-dressed-in-western-clothes-mikhail-gorbachev-136-86-80.jpg
Well I concede the referendum was not stopped, became half a referendum (i.e. even more questionable but with a result that may be used) and a large pr coup for independence.
You know from Spain’s view it was never a referendum as it was not accepted by Spanish government or law as one. It comes down to who has last say over a definition, which is the battle being fought.
In the meantime “The law should not be used as a pretext for injustice” stood out to me amongst comments. Hurting people who are peaceful is not a good idea, they should have gone straight for the Catalan leadership maybe. More difficult though is when you have a people who won’t obey, and organise differently… and I am not sure there is an easy answer to that when you are charged to make sure the country works a certain way.
…and Rajoy just follows that up now by saying the referendum (as such) “simply didn’t exist”.
In another nationalist movement, it’s taking longer for Iraq to split up than I thought it would:
Kurdish referendum triggers retaliation from Iraq, Turkey
September 30, 2017
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kurdish-independence-referendum-triggers-retaliation-from-iraq-turkey/
ERBIL — The Kurdish people face their vote for independence as neighboring states ratchet up their opposition to the move. 93 percent of Kurds voted for independence on Monday in a referendum that the Iraqi national government deemed illegal. Turkey, to the north, has also vowed to retaliate with blockades and sanctions, which are likely to cause severe economic woes to the fledgling state. Already, Iraq has shut down international flights in and out of the region, with several major international airlines already flagging that they won’t be offering services.
The last commercial international flights out of Iraqi Kurdistan left on Friday, as the Iraqi government began to squeeze Kurdistan in retaliation. “All international flights without exception to and from Irbil will stop from 6pm (10am ET) on Friday following a decision by the Iraqi cabinet and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi,” Talar Faiq Salih told AFP news agency on Thursday.
U.S. willing, if asked, to facilitate talks between Kurds, Baghdad: State Department
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-kurds-usa/u-s-willing-if-asked-to-facilitate-talks-between-kurds-baghdad-state-department-idUSKCN1C330K
Anyone in Gibraltar that wants to join with Spain must be mental.
Rajoy is doomed. The photos of local firemen in uniform lined up to protect unarmed civilians from Spanish police in full riot gear will never be overcome. The “Kent State” photo has been snapped.
“The heavy-handed tactics of prime minister Mariano Rajoy turned to chaos and clashes as police moved to block the Catalonia independence vote. European politicians are shocked.”
Are they, really? What would they do if a province in their countries wanted to vote about seceding? Scotland was allowed to vote, when it was “known” that the vote would not succeed. When polls showed secede in the lead, Cameron pulled out all the stops to turn a no vote. When secede failed, Cameron said we won’t let that election happen again.
Voting to secede, even if it wins, is not seceding. It simply means the status quo is not acceptable to the majority voting. And is a sign that both sides need to compromise… for example, returning to the previous agreement between Spain and the province, which rajoy rescinded.
But he chooses to rule by decree, no compromise. My guess is this has been a mistake. One more poor decision of eu neolibs that bring forward its dissolution.
The neolibs get Rajoy’s blame?