Independence For Catalonia?
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The people of Catalonia spent yesterday fighting to be able to vote for the right to form an independent state. Clashes with the Spanish Police who were under government instruction to use force to stop people from voting left over 800 injured. Despite this, Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont says the region has voted for independence and that the EU can no longer ignore the Catalans and their demands for statehood.
In an address to the public, Mr Puigdemont said: “With this day of hope and suffering, the citizens of Catalonia have won the right to an independent state in the form of a republic.”
Spain’s constitutional court had declared the independence poll illegal and police were told to stop people voting. As a result, 92 polling stations have been closed and many ballot papers and boxes were seized by police.
Protesters and supporters of independence gathered in Barcelona, Catalonia’s regional capital at the end of the vote, waving Catalan flags and celebrating.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the people of Catalonia had been tricked into taking part in an illegal vote in what was a “mockery” of democracy.
The Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau condemned the violent police action as footage began to emerge of police roughly and dangerously handling protesters. Some videos showed people being pulled by their hair or being thrown down stairs however Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria stated that police had “acted with professionalism and in a proportionate way”.
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