Melodi
Disaster Cat
I think there may have been a thread on the police brutality on this topic but not a lot of coverage of the on-going situation.
The UK/European Press is all over this story - basically, Spain reacts with about as much force as you can imagine short of a civil war to try and stop one of their semi-autonomous regions from holding a NON-Binding vote on forming an independent country (which Catalonia was for hundreds of years).
Locals did everything they could to try and make sure polling places stayed open despite the Central Government bringing in militarized police from other areas (the local police wouldn't cooperate); including filling schools (polling places) with children and parents camped out from Friday onward; pensioners gathering in front of the thousands marching in the streets and people try to keep the doors open any way they can.
The police have used rubber bullets and now other forms of "just short of civil war" type violence to try and stop the voting at "almost" any cost (again orders from the Central government).
What is ironic about this is before the Spanish Central government started in on this polls showed only 40 percent of Catalonians wanted independence; now that figure is MUCH higher and a win is almost assured IF a vote can be held.
It is now early evening in Spain and we are starting to getting photos like this from a friend on facebook:
And from the BBC [best seen at link, most images are video]
Catalan referendum: 'Hundreds hurt' as police try to stop voters
1 hour ago
From the section Europe Share this with Facebook Share this with Twitter Share this with Messenger Share this with Email Share
Spanish police push a girl with a shield outside a polling station in Barcelona, on
October 1, 2017Image copyrightAFP/GETTY IMAGES
Image caption
Spain's deputy prime minister said police had acted in a "proportionate" way
Barcelona's mayor says at least 460 people have been injured as police have used force to try to prevent voting in Catalonia's independence referendum.
The Spanish government has pledged to stop a poll that was declared illegal by the country's constitutional court.
Police officers are preventing people from voting, and seizing ballot papers and boxes at polling stations.
In the regional capital Barcelona, police used batons and fired rubber bullets during pro-referendum protests.
What is the latest?
Media captionPolice storm Catalan referendum polling station and take away ballots
Updating the injury toll to 460, Barcelona's Mayor Ada Colau condemned police actions against what she said was the region's "defenceless" population.
The most powerful images of Catalan clashes
The reasons for the referendum
Meanwhile, the Spanish interior ministry said 12 police officers had been hurt and three people arrested. It added that 92 polling stations had been closed.
The national police and Guardia Civil - a paramilitary force charged with police duties - were sent into Catalonia in large numbers to prevent the vote from taking place.
Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said: "The unjustified use of violence... by the Spanish state will not stop the will of the Catalan people"
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said police had "acted with professionalism and in a proportionate way"
Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido blamed Mr Puigdemont for what he termed the day's senseless events
The Guardia Civil said it was "resisting harassment and provocation" while carrying out its duties "in defence of the law"
One voter, Júlia Graell, told the BBC that "police started to kick people, young and old", adding: "Today, I have seen the worst actions that a government can do to the people of its own country."
Media captionVoters attempt to stop police seizing ballots. Some shouted: "We will vote! We are peaceful people"
In Girona, riot police smashed their way into a polling station where Mr Puigdemont was due to vote, and forcibly removed those looking to place their ballots. Mr Puigdemont was able to vote at another polling station.
The BBC's Tom Burridge, in Barcelona, witnessed police being chased away from one polling booth after they had raided it.
Since Friday, thousands of people have occupied schools and other buildings designated as polling stations in order to keep them open.
Many of those inside were parents and their children, who remained in the buildings after the end of lessons on Friday and bedded down in sleeping bags on gym mats.
Image caption
This woman suffered a head injury in Barcelona
In some areas, farmers positioned tractors on roads and in front of polling station doors, and school gates were taken away to make it harder for the authorities to seal buildings off. Firefighters have acted as human shields between police and demonstrators.
Referendum organisers had called for peaceful resistance to any police action.
Why these are uncharted waters for Spain
How Spain tried to stop the vote
Meanwhile, FC Barcelona's match against Las Palmas was played behind closed doors, after Barcelona said the football league refused to suspend the game.
Why is a vote being held?
Media captionPolice use batons on a crowd in Barcelona
Catalonia, a wealthy region of 7.5 million people in north-eastern Spain, has its own language and culture.
It also has a high degree of autonomy, but is not recognised as a separate nation under the Spanish constitution.
The ballot papers contain just one question: "Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?" There are two boxes: Yes or No.
Does Catalonia want to leave Spain?
Spain's distinctive north-eastern region
Pressure for a vote on self-determination has grown over the past five years.
But Spanish unionists argue Catalonia already enjoys broad autonomy within Spain, along with other regions like the Basque Country and Galicia.
Why is Madrid so opposed?
Media captionWhy some Catalans want independence
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says the vote goes against the constitution, which refers to "the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation, the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards".
Central government spokesman Iñigo Mendez de Vigo accused the Catalan government of being inflexible and one-sided, but it is a charge that Catalan nationalists throw back at Madrid itself.
Before Sunday, demonstrations by independence campaigners had been largely peaceful.
Thousands of extra police officers were sent to the region, many of them based on two ships in the port of Barcelona.
The Spanish government has put policing in Catalonia under central control and ordered the regional force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, to help enforce the ban on the illegal referendum.
Before the poll, Spanish authorities seized voting materials, imposed fines on top Catalan officials and temporarily detained dozens of politicians.
Police have also occupied the regional government's telecommunications centre.
Have you witnessed these events? E-mail us at haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
You can also contact us in the following ways:
Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay
WhatsApp: +44 7525 900971
Text an SMS or MMS to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (international)
Please read our terms & conditions
The UK/European Press is all over this story - basically, Spain reacts with about as much force as you can imagine short of a civil war to try and stop one of their semi-autonomous regions from holding a NON-Binding vote on forming an independent country (which Catalonia was for hundreds of years).
Locals did everything they could to try and make sure polling places stayed open despite the Central Government bringing in militarized police from other areas (the local police wouldn't cooperate); including filling schools (polling places) with children and parents camped out from Friday onward; pensioners gathering in front of the thousands marching in the streets and people try to keep the doors open any way they can.
The police have used rubber bullets and now other forms of "just short of civil war" type violence to try and stop the voting at "almost" any cost (again orders from the Central government).
What is ironic about this is before the Spanish Central government started in on this polls showed only 40 percent of Catalonians wanted independence; now that figure is MUCH higher and a win is almost assured IF a vote can be held.
It is now early evening in Spain and we are starting to getting photos like this from a friend on facebook:
And from the BBC [best seen at link, most images are video]
Catalan referendum: 'Hundreds hurt' as police try to stop voters
1 hour ago
From the section Europe Share this with Facebook Share this with Twitter Share this with Messenger Share this with Email Share
Spanish police push a girl with a shield outside a polling station in Barcelona, on
October 1, 2017Image copyrightAFP/GETTY IMAGES
Image caption
Spain's deputy prime minister said police had acted in a "proportionate" way
Barcelona's mayor says at least 460 people have been injured as police have used force to try to prevent voting in Catalonia's independence referendum.
The Spanish government has pledged to stop a poll that was declared illegal by the country's constitutional court.
Police officers are preventing people from voting, and seizing ballot papers and boxes at polling stations.
In the regional capital Barcelona, police used batons and fired rubber bullets during pro-referendum protests.
What is the latest?
Media captionPolice storm Catalan referendum polling station and take away ballots
Updating the injury toll to 460, Barcelona's Mayor Ada Colau condemned police actions against what she said was the region's "defenceless" population.
The most powerful images of Catalan clashes
The reasons for the referendum
Meanwhile, the Spanish interior ministry said 12 police officers had been hurt and three people arrested. It added that 92 polling stations had been closed.
The national police and Guardia Civil - a paramilitary force charged with police duties - were sent into Catalonia in large numbers to prevent the vote from taking place.
Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said: "The unjustified use of violence... by the Spanish state will not stop the will of the Catalan people"
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said police had "acted with professionalism and in a proportionate way"
Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido blamed Mr Puigdemont for what he termed the day's senseless events
The Guardia Civil said it was "resisting harassment and provocation" while carrying out its duties "in defence of the law"
One voter, Júlia Graell, told the BBC that "police started to kick people, young and old", adding: "Today, I have seen the worst actions that a government can do to the people of its own country."
Media captionVoters attempt to stop police seizing ballots. Some shouted: "We will vote! We are peaceful people"
In Girona, riot police smashed their way into a polling station where Mr Puigdemont was due to vote, and forcibly removed those looking to place their ballots. Mr Puigdemont was able to vote at another polling station.
The BBC's Tom Burridge, in Barcelona, witnessed police being chased away from one polling booth after they had raided it.
Since Friday, thousands of people have occupied schools and other buildings designated as polling stations in order to keep them open.
Many of those inside were parents and their children, who remained in the buildings after the end of lessons on Friday and bedded down in sleeping bags on gym mats.
Image caption
This woman suffered a head injury in Barcelona
In some areas, farmers positioned tractors on roads and in front of polling station doors, and school gates were taken away to make it harder for the authorities to seal buildings off. Firefighters have acted as human shields between police and demonstrators.
Referendum organisers had called for peaceful resistance to any police action.
Why these are uncharted waters for Spain
How Spain tried to stop the vote
Meanwhile, FC Barcelona's match against Las Palmas was played behind closed doors, after Barcelona said the football league refused to suspend the game.
Why is a vote being held?
Media captionPolice use batons on a crowd in Barcelona
Catalonia, a wealthy region of 7.5 million people in north-eastern Spain, has its own language and culture.
It also has a high degree of autonomy, but is not recognised as a separate nation under the Spanish constitution.
The ballot papers contain just one question: "Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?" There are two boxes: Yes or No.
Does Catalonia want to leave Spain?
Spain's distinctive north-eastern region
Pressure for a vote on self-determination has grown over the past five years.
But Spanish unionists argue Catalonia already enjoys broad autonomy within Spain, along with other regions like the Basque Country and Galicia.
Why is Madrid so opposed?
Media captionWhy some Catalans want independence
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says the vote goes against the constitution, which refers to "the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation, the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards".
Central government spokesman Iñigo Mendez de Vigo accused the Catalan government of being inflexible and one-sided, but it is a charge that Catalan nationalists throw back at Madrid itself.
Before Sunday, demonstrations by independence campaigners had been largely peaceful.
Thousands of extra police officers were sent to the region, many of them based on two ships in the port of Barcelona.
The Spanish government has put policing in Catalonia under central control and ordered the regional force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, to help enforce the ban on the illegal referendum.
Before the poll, Spanish authorities seized voting materials, imposed fines on top Catalan officials and temporarily detained dozens of politicians.
Police have also occupied the regional government's telecommunications centre.
Have you witnessed these events? E-mail us at haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
You can also contact us in the following ways:
Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay
WhatsApp: +44 7525 900971
Text an SMS or MMS to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (international)
Please read our terms & conditions
