Catalans defy poll crackdown
Many vote despite police raids on referendum venues
SPANISH riot police burst into polling stations across Catalonia yesterday, 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 projectiles.
Catalan officials said 337 people had been injured in the police crackdown.
Officers in riot gear hit people with batons and forcibly removed would-be voters, inclu- ding women and the elderly, from polling stations.
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.
“I’m so pleased because despite all the hurdles they’ve put up, I’ve managed to vote,” Teresa, a 72-year-old pensioner in Barcelona who had stood in line for six hours, said.
The ballot will have no legal status as it has been blocked by Spain’s Constitutional Court and Madrid for being at odds with the 1978 constitution.
A minority of about 40% of Catalans support independence, polls show, although a majority want to hold a referendum on the issue.
The region of 7.5 million people has an economy larger than that of Portugal.
However much voting takes place, a “yes” result is likely, given that most of those who support independence are expected to cast ballots while most of those against it are not.
Organisers had asked voters to turn out before dawn, hoping for large crowds to be the first image of voting day.
“This is a great opportunity. I’ve waited 80 years for this,” 92-year-old Ramon Jordana said.
The former taxi driver was waiting to vote in Sant Pere de Torello, a town in the foothills of the Pyrenees and a pro-independence bastion.
The Catalan government said voters could print out ballot papers at home and lodge them at any polling station not closed down by police.
Elsewhere, people were not able to access ballot boxes.
In a town in Girona province where Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont was due to vote, Civil Guard police smashed glass panels to open the door and search for ballot boxes.
Puigdemont voted in a different town. He accused Spain of unjustified violence in stopping the vote and said it created a dreadful image of Spain.
“The unjustified, disproportionate and irresponsible violence of the Spanish state today has failed to stop Catalans’ desire to vote,” he said.
The Madrid government said 11 police officers were injured in the clashes.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted: “Violence can never be the answer! We condemn all forms of violence and reaffirm our call for political dialogue.”