Catalonia residents halt work to protest police
Hundreds were hurt during referendum Sunday on secession.
Highways were blocked, schools
closed and much business halted across Catalonia on Tuesday as workers and students joined strikes and took to the streets to protest the use of force by police that left hundreds injured during a disputed referendum on the region’s secession.
In the regional capital, Barcelona, where bus and subway services were affected, disoriented tourists scrambled to find open cafeterias to avoid the protests.
There were moments of tension when a handful of picketers forced the closure of shops that had remained open in the city’s famed Las Ramblas boulevard, but elsewhere the demonstrations were largely peaceful.
Several labor unions and grassroots pro-independence groups had urged workers throughout Catalonia to go on partial or full-day strikes after the referendum that the Spanish government had deemed illegal and invalid.
“People are angry, very angry,” said Josep Llavina, a 53-year-old self-employed worker who had traveled to Barcelona from a nearby town to participate in the protest outside the regional offices of Spain’s National Police.
The building became a focal point for protesters, gathering thousands at midday who shouted that the police were an “occupying force” and urged Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to resign.
Catalan officials say that 90 percent of the 2.3 million peo-
ple who voted Sunday were in favor of independence. But fewer than half of those eligible to vote turned out. The vote was boycotted by most of Spain’s national parties on grounds it was illegal and lacked basic guarantees, such as transparency, a proper census or an independent electoral governing body.
The central government in Madrid is blaming Catalan separatist politicians and grassroots groups for the violence, saying they “plotted to break the law” and drew citizens to an unlawful vote.
“Nothing of this would have happened if the (Catalan) government hadn’t declared itself in rebellion, breaking the orders of the courts and lying and tricking people,” said Spain’s top official in Catalonia, Enric Millo, on Tuesday.
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont has declared the vote valid and has announced it will present the final results this week to Catalonia’s regional parliament, which would trigger the process of breaking away from Spain.
The Spa n ish national government has said it will respond with “all necessary measures” to counter such a move, and is holding talks
with national opposition leaders to find multi-partisan consensus on the response.
The general strike in Catalonia called by pro-independence groups was not fully backed by Spain’s two main unions, the UGT and CCOO groups, who invited workers to decide individually whether to halt work or not to protest police violence, but not in support of secession.
Port workers also held a demonstration outside the regional headquarters of Spain’s ruling Popular Party, while firefighters planned a rally outside the Interior Ministry’s regional office in Barcelona.
More than 890 civilians were treated for injuries following clashes during Sunday’s referendum, according to Catalan regional health authorities. Police using batons, and some firing rubber bullets, cleared protesters hoping to vote.
The police action prompted criticism worldwide although the European Union and most governments backed Spain’s stance.