Hundreds injured as riot police storm Catalan referendum polling stations

[soleiltropiques]

Hundreds injured as riot police storm Catalan referendum polling stations

Barcelona mayor calls for Spanish prime minister to resign amid reports of police firing rubber bullets at people trying to vote
•Catalan referendum - live

Comments

[bbmaniac]

mmmmmm.... sorry but no. Police (both National and Civil Guards) were just doing their job and what they were commanded by the Government and by the Constitutional Jury. And don't even let me start with the unspeakable disloyalty of the local catalan police, that were commanded to handle what the other two law enforcements ended up having to do. So yeah, don't believe everything you see or hear about this issue. Indenpendents want international press to believe that Spain is a repressive country and that they don't have freedom and blah blah blah... BULLSHIT.

[amw]

I think one important thing not to forget here is that the police overreached. Police brutality is horrific regardless of the context, since cops are supposed to protect citizens, not beat them.

That said, I am a little annoyed at how the media is reporting this. They have given the impression that this was a legitimate election instead of an organized protest.

[soleiltropiques]

I don't think I would label this a 'protest' if people just wanted to be able to vote to express their opinion...?

The question of whether such a referendum should be 'legal' has also been hotly debated where I'm from (Canada).

It seems to me though that at the end of it all it comes down to what kind of society people want: a democratic one where things may not always go the way certain groups want or one where a certain outcome is enforced (including through violence).

I mean, the referendum may have been 'illegal', but at what point did that become the case simply because Spain didn't want to allow the free and open expression of Catalonia's desires (=to remain or to leave)?

(Edited partly to try to remove annoying whitespace in my comment...)

[amw]

I don't disagree that it could have defused tensions to grant residents of Catalonia the opportunity to hold an official referendum, but the reality is that this Sunday was always a cynical ploy by separatists to throw oil in the fire

[policraticus]

When this happened in the USA, we ended up killing 600,000 Americans.

I'd say that Madrid has shown extraordinary restraint.