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protest Spain's referendum crackdown in Barcelona – local police
RT
3
October, 2017
Up
to 700,000 people have taken to the streets of Barcelona in the wake
of Sunday’s controversial Catalonia independence referendum,
municipal police announced. Huge crowds rallied Tuesday against the
violent crackdown on voters by Spanish police.
Roads
and traffic was blocked throughout the city on Tuesday, as protesters
marched, chanting, “Independence!” and “The streets will always
be ours!”
Some
700,000 people took to the streets, Barcelona municipal police
announced on Twitter.
Thousands
gathered outside the offices of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano
Rajoy’s People’s Party (PP) in Barcelona and the Catalonia
regional HQ of the national police as police stood guard. Protesters
shouted slogans and waved the red-and-yellow Catalan flag, and groups
of firemen played bagpipes outside the PP’s office as the crowd
cheered them on.
RT’s
Madina Kochenova and Anastasia Churkina dived into the rally at
Barcelona’s central square, reporting live from the protest on
Tuesday.
Youngsters
and elderly people, families with small children were among a
bustling crowd of jubilant demonstrators that filled the square in
protest against the Spanish government’s crackdown.
“They
are asking, they are shouting at national police forces to leave the
region of Catalonia,” Kochenova reported from the protest in the
afternoon.
As
darkness fell, people showed no sign of calming down, Churkina
reported.
“Looks
like it’s going to continue through the evening through the guise
of people not only protesting the policy brutality but also that
Catalonia has seen during the referendum but also the general actions
of Madrid,” the correspondent said.
A
young female protester echoed the general mood as she told Churkina
the actions of Madrid would not be tolerated by the locals anymore.
“We
will not accept anything like this anymore. We’re heartbroken. We
just wanted to use our right to vote. We think it’s not normal how
the government behaved,” the protester said.
A
protest strike was also called by major trade unions as government
workers walked out and businesses and universities shut for the day.
Metro stations were empty as services were drastically cut back,
while the usually busy Boqueria market was deserted. Famous tourist
attractions such as the Sagrada Familia church were also shut down.
Even
FC Barcelona took part, canceling all its training sessions for the
day. However, the main unions, the CCOO and UGT, avoided calling the
walkout a general strike, instead called it a “temporary work
stoppage” to get around laws that prohibit striking for political
reasons.
The
Spanish government has condemned the protests as an affront to the
rule of law.
“I’ve
seen how President Puigdemont has flooded the streets with his
followers to stop people obeying the law and to make them disrespect
justice,” said Rajoy’s deputy prime minister, Soraya Saenz de
Santamaria. “We are here to defend the rights and liberties of all
Spaniards that have been trampled upon by the regional government.”
The
Spanish government and the country’s Constitutional Court have
declared the Catalonia referendum illegal, and dispatched thousands
of officers from the National Police and the Civil Guard to prevent
the vote taking place. In the ensuring operation, nearly 900 people
were wounded as officers deployed batons and rubber bullets to break
up crowds of voters.
Despite
this, millions of Catalans still turned up to cast their ballots. Of
those who managed to vote, the Catalan authorities claim, 90 percent
voted for independence. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont has said
he will take steps to start separating from Spain, and has appealed
for international mediation with the central government
Spanish Showdown: Catalonia To Declare Independence "In Days" Puidgemont Says Despite King's Condemnation
3 October, 2017
As reported
previously,
in a sternly worded address to the nation, Spain's King Felipe VI
condemned organizers of Catalonia's independence referendum for
having put themselves "outside the law" and said the
situation in Spain was "extremely serious", calling for
unity. In his address, King Felipe VI said Catalan leaders who
organized the referendum showed their "disrespect to the powers
of the state" adding that "they have broken the democratic
principles of the rule of law.
"Today, the Catalan
society is fractured," the king said, warning that the poll
could put at risk the economy of the wealthy autonomous north-eastern
region and the whole of Spain. He said that Catalonia’s
authorities, “have placed themselves outside the law and democracy,
they have tried to break the unity of Spain and national
sovereignty”. Offering firm backing to the Spanish government of
Mariano Rajoy, Felipe said it was the “responsibility of the
legitimate powers of the state to ensure the constitutional order."
Felipe also said the
Catalan government had “systematically
violated the law, demonstrating a disloyalty that is inadmissible”
and “undermined the harmony and coexistence in Catalan society”
But he stressed that
Spain "will overcome difficult times".
The address came on the
same day as Barcelona's roadways were blockaded amid a general strike
as hundreds of thousands in Catalonia have been protesting over
Spanish police violence during Sunday's vote, in which nearly 900
people were hurt.
However, despite the
King's warning and hinting that a showdown, potentially violent, is
coming, Catalan
President Carles Puigdemonttold
the BBC the
region will declare independence in a matter of days.
In his first interview since the referendum, Carles Puigdemont said
his government would "act at the end of this week or the
beginning of next".
When asked what he would
do if the Spanish government were to intervene and take control of
Catalonia's government, Puigdemont said it would be "an
error which changes everything".
As Bloomberg
reported earlier, Prime
Minister Mariano Rajoy has been fighting to maintain control after
2.3 million Catalans voted in Sunday’s makeshift referendum and the
regional police force ignored orders to prevent the ballot. Preparing
for launching the "nuclear option", Bloomberg added
that Rajoy
is mulling if, and when, to use Article 155 of the Spanish
Constitution to take direct control from the administration in
Barcelona.
This is the "error that would change everything" referred
to by Puigdemont.
As a reminder, the
Spanish government in Madrid has described the referendum as illegal.
During the vote, 33 police officers were also injured, local medical
officials said.
Meanwhile, as noted this
morning, huge protest rallies have been taking place across
Catalonia. In Barcelona alone, 700,000
people took to the streets, city police were quoted as saying by the
AFP news agency.
More than 50 roadblocks
in the city caused big traffic jams. Barcelona's metro traffic was
cut to a 25% service during rush hour and no trains at all at other
times. Barcelona's port was at a standstill, trade union sources
said. Top tourist attractions were also closed, including the city's
famous Sagrada Familia church.
A roadblock on
Gran Via in central Barcelona: The banner says "Occupation
forces get out!"
Mercabarna - Barcelona's
massive wholesale market - was left deserted as some 770 food
businesses closed for the day. Many small businesses have shut for
the day. Schools, universities and medical services were also closed
or operating at a minimum level.
The strike was called in
protest at "the grave violation of rights and freedoms"
seen during Sunday's ballot. Some police officers were seen firing
rubber bullets, storming into polling stations and pulling women by
their hair.
Earlier on Tuesday,
Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said: "We see how
day after day the government of Catalonia is pushing the population
to the abyss and inciting rebellion in the streets." He also
warned that the central government would take "all measures
necessary to stop acts of harassment".
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime
Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría condemned the "mafia"
behavior of those protesters who had earlier gathered around hotels
housing Spanish police officers and demanded that they leave.
It is unclear what
Madrid's response will be if, or when, Catalonia follows through on
its threat to declare independence. One option is for Madrid to
challenge the declaration at the Constitutional Court, which will
immediately rule against it. Next, if the Catalan government ignores
the ruling, Madrid is likely to trigger article 155 of the
Constitution to strip out Catalonia’s autonomy and to call for
regional elections. This would be a risk-negatie scenario, and one
which Citi said "could trigger a civil rebellion, with possible
wide disruptions and violent confrontations. A move by the regional
police force to ally with the pro-independence parties could
significantly escalate the situation."
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