What Is Happening In Catalonia And Spain

On October 1, 2017, the police of the Spanish State (known as the National Police) endeavored to take the polling boxes where Catalan people were voting in a referendum with two choices: for or against Catalonian independence from the Spanish State. The voting took place in barricaded buildings (most of them state schools) to protect the boxes containing the votes. With the intent to collect the boxes and stop the voting, the National Police used all types of repressive measures, from rubber bullets, to gas and batons. Nearly 900 people were seriously hurt, and two were in critical condition in area hospitals.
Televised images of police brutality shocked the Catalan population, which responded by staging mass street protests against the National Police. These forced the repression to end by early afternoon, allowing people to keep voting until 8:00 p.m. It was the victory of the population over the Central State and its police. The repression failed to stop the referendum, with 2.5 million voting (ca. 43 percent of the electorate) and 90 percent favoring independence. The police infuriated people who had not planned to vote because they did not sympathize with the pro-independence movement led by the Catalan government. Many of them 
read more..