Spain’s harsh crackdown draws worldwide attention to Catalonia

• Posted on October 2, 2017
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Catalan government has claimed that 90 percent of voters are in favor of independence, following the violent crackdown Spanish riot police brought upon polling stations on Sunday.

Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull told reporters on Monday morning that 90 percent of Catalans voted yes after the region held an independence referendum that the country’s government in Madrid had attempted to stop. The Spanish government declared the vote illegal.

The referendum saw police use rubber bullets and batons in their operation to seize ballot boxes and shutter voting sites. At least 800 people were injured in the crackdown, according to the Catalan regional government.

The shocking scenes of unrest and violent tactics of the police brought international attention to Catalonia, with the subsequent chaos from the actions to stop the referendum giving additional weight to the symbolic independence vote.

The violence threatens to deepen the longstanding divisions between Catalan separatists and the Spanish government, putting pressure on Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and ensuring that the issue of independence will only become more prominent in the days to come.

Images and videos circulating from Barcelona, the capital of the autonomous region, and other cities across the area showed officers violently shutting down a peaceful referendum, albeit one banned by Spain’s central government and deemed illegitimate by the country’s courts. Footage captured police smashing through glass doors and dragging away dissident citizens attempting to protect polling stations.

Some protesters tussled with authorities, leading to several arrests and reports that at least 12 officers had been injured.

In a further sign of the divide between regional authorities, Spain’s riot police got into confrontations with Catalan regional officers and firefighters attempting to allow the rallies and referendum to proceed. Spain’s police closed nearly a hundred polling stations in all, and arrested several protesters.

The clampdown also deepened political divisions between Catalan government officials and Spain’s leadership in Madrid. Tensions over the referendum have been rising for months as the vote approached, and as violence erupted on Sunday both sides blamed one another for the situation.

Barcelona’s Mayor Ada Colau called for Prime Minister Rajoy to resign following the crackdown, saying “he is a coward who does not live up to his state responsibilities.” Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, meanwhile, claimed that the police actions would eternally shame the country.

Several leftist Spanish politicians also joined in the calls for Rajoy’s ouster, adding to the prime minister’s political woes. He is currently the head of a relatively fragile minority government that has already run into trouble in recent weeks from political partners protesting his handling of Catalonia’s bid for secession.

Rajoy defended the police actions on Sunday as a justified response to Catalonia’s attempts to break “the rule of law,” while denying that a referendum had taken place, emphasizing the lack of participation and the illegality of the vote.

But although Rajoy has always had the support of the European Union and the courts in rejecting the legitimacy of Catalonia’s referendum, the harsh response from authorities could embolden the separatist movement.

Most major European Union officials were largely silent over the events in Catalonia, although some figures including Belgium’s Prime Minister Charles Michel and the EU parliament’s Brexit chief Guy Verhofstadt condemned the violence.

Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon, who has pursued a second independence referendum for Scotland in the United Kingdom, called Spain’s actions “wrong and damaging.” 

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  Albert Gea / Reuters

  A woman screams towards Spanish Civil Guard officers outside a polling station.
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  NurPhoto via Getty Images

  People protest as police try to control the area at a polling station in the referendum vote.
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  Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

  Police and gendarmerie crew intervene to stop voters in the Catalan independence referendum.
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  Bloomberg via Getty Images

  Riot police drag a member of the public away from a school being used as a polling station.
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  Andrea Baldo via Getty Images

  Clashes between voters and the police injured hundreds on Sunday.
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  Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

  Police seized ballots and closed polling stations during the vote.

  Riot police clash with members of the public outside a school being used as a polling station for the banned referendum.

  

  Andrea Baldo via Getty Images

  There were several arrests amid the demonstrations.

  

  Dan Kitwood via Getty Images

  Police fired rubber bullets in some areas and used batons.
   

-huffingtonpost