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Police and would-be voters have clashed during a Catalan independence referendum held on Sunday:
Scenes of chaos and violence unfolded in Catalonia as an independence referendum deemed illegal by Madrid devolved quickly on Sunday. As police followed orders from the central government to put a stop to the vote, they fired rubber bullets at unarmed protesters and smashed through the glass at polling places, reports The Associated Press. Three hundred and thirty-seven people were injured, some seriously, according to Catalonia's government spokesman.
Spain's Interior Ministry said a dozen police officers were injured. NPR's Lauren Frayer reports from Barcelona that some people were throwing rocks down at officers from balconies. Yet the violence came from all directions.
"Horrible scenes," Lauren reports. "Police dragging voters out of polling stations, some by the hair."
Scuffles erupted as riot police forcefully removed hundreds of would-be voters from polling places across Barcelona, the Catalan capitol, reports AP. Nevertheless, many people, managed to successfully cast their ballots across the region after waiting in lines hundreds-of-people-deep, including the elderly and families with small children, says Reuters.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said that he did not acknowledge the vote and called it "illegal".
Also at NYT, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, and BBC:
Catalan emergency officials say 761 people have been injured as police used force to try to block voting in Catalonia's independence referendum.
Update: Catalan referendum: Catalonia has 'won right to statehood'
Spain Vows to Enforce the Law in Rebel Catalonia
Catalonia Leaders Seek to Make Independence Referendum Binding
Previously: Spain Trying to Stop Catalonia Independence Referendum
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 03 2017, @02:47PM (4 children)
Politically, a US style approach would have been "cleaner" - no promises of violence, no statements except to the venture's illegality beforehand. The day after the referendum, have the FBI raid the governor's office, arresting the governor and any state politician who participated in organizing the referendum, followed by trial in federal court on charges of misappropriating funds, followed by a 20 year stretch in prison.
Life goes on as usual, and it will be a long while until a politician tries to pull that stunt again.
(Score: 4, Informative) by FakeBeldin on Tuesday October 03 2017, @04:34PM (3 children)
The Spanish government did go for a US style response - the style that is in vogue since late November 2016.
(Score: 5, Touché) by linkdude64 on Tuesday October 03 2017, @05:27PM (2 children)
You're so right, police violence wasn't an issue at all under Obama.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 03 2017, @05:55PM (1 child)
The person you are replying to said it was a US style approach. Of which NO ONE has made the claim that Obama was not the leader of the US recently. Therefore your response was off the mark. Perhaps your knee-jerk defense of our small handed overlord is a bit too touchy. Slugger.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 04 2017, @05:22AM
>> The person you are replying to said it was a US style approach.
Indeed, but you left out the part implying that it was not as frequent (i.e. "in vogue") prior to late November.
Here is the full quote of the GGP again, with emphasis placed on the section that you had conveniently omitted any mention of.