Spain torn apart in polling day violence
Hundreds are hurt by ‘police brutality’ as independence vote turns ugly in Barcelona
HUNDREDS were injured yesterday as an independence referendum in Spain erupted into bloody violence.
Police used batons and rubber bullets on crowds hoping to vote in the poll in the Catalonia region and officials claimed nearly 850 were hurt.
Officers were accused of brutality, breaking into polling stations, using axes to break down doors and forcibly removing would-be voters, including the elderly.
Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull said the police actions had made Spain ‘the shame of Europe’. He claimed millions had voted, despite police closing 319 of the region’s 2,300 polling stations.
Four thousand national police and Guardia Civil officers were sent to Catalonia, after regional leaders defied a government decree that the independence referendum was illegal and should not go ahead.
‘This is shameful, this is dictatorship’
Ballot boxes and voting papers were confiscated but millions attempted to cast their vote in the independence poll.
In Barcelona, queues formed before dawn despite the massive police presence.
Riot police used batons against crowds of pro-independence supporters, who had raised their hands above their heads in an apparent display of non-aggression. Screams could be heard as officers began beating people to the ground.
At one point, a group of firefighters linked arms with demonstrators as they faced the police lines, and were also beaten back by officers using batons.
At one polling station in Barcelona, where police had tried to force their way in and push voters out, one woman cried: ‘This is shameful, this is a dictatorship.’
Once the officers finally retreated, an elderly woman was left with blood pouring down her face. ‘We need the European Union to help us,’ she pleaded.
Footage showed police kicking, beating and pulling people by the hair in clashes inside a school in Barcelona. The video showed an officer kicking at people already on the ground, and another person being pulled by the hair. There were confrontations between officers from the regional Catalan police force who attempted to intervene against their national counterparts. The regional police made little attempt to remove people from polling stations. Catalan officials claimed 844 people were injured.
The police tactics threatened to inflame resentment against Madrid in Catalonia, where a recent poll showed the majority of voters did not support independence.
There were calls for Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy to resign over the decision to send police into the region. But in a TV address last night, Mr Rajoy blamed the violence on the Catalan government.
In Ireland, Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin TD condemned violence by Spanish police. Mr Howlin said: ‘Any violence against voters and officials is unacceptable and unjustifiable.’