International Catalonia's Rebellion: 170,000 Spaniards in Madrid March Against Amnesty Plan for Catalan Secessionists

[JDragon]

Just to underline that: the central government should have acted differently months and years ago already. Now with the referendum actually scheduled they hardly had another option. They succeeded in not allowing the vote - a declaration of independence based on this would be a farce. But obviously this will change the discourse.

 

[Arkain2K]

No idea what Spain is doing. Horrible reaction. Should have let them have a vote and then just ignore it. They are building a growing resistance with this heavy handed response.

The central government ignoring the complaints from the regional governments is precisely the reason that leads to all these calls for Independence all across Europe, actually.

The correct response would be allowing the referendum to fail, and fail it would if everyone are clear about the E.U economics and politics.

 

[greedopl]

So much for democracy right?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4937860/Riot-police-clash-voters-Catalonia.html

Give merkel an eu funded army then you'll see the true face of democracy especially european fake democracy...

Yes it is.

But this does not justify Spanish government acts :



Spanish government is making a huge mistake using force against people who wanted to vote.

Who cares about white people in their countries if this was a muslim protest... Dear God the outrage. Turdeu would put a dildo in his ass to achieve some peace.

 

[Arkain2K]

 

[Arkain2K]

Catalan leader: "Catalonia has won right to statehood'

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont says the Spanish region has won the right to statehood following a contentious referendum that was marred by violence.

He said the door had been opened to a unilateral declaration of independence.

Catalan officials later said 90% of those who voted backed independence in Sunday's vote. The turnout was 42.3%.

Spain's constitutional court had declared the poll illegal and hundreds of people were injured as police used force to try to block voting.

Officers seized ballot papers and boxes at polling stations.

"With this day of hope and suffering, the citizens of Catalonia have won the right to an independent state in the form a republic," Mr Puigdemont said in a televised address flanked by other senior Catalan leaders.

"My government, in the next few days will send the results of today's vote to the Catalan parliament, where the sovereignty of our people lies, so that it can act in accordance with the law of the referendum."

He said the European Union could no longer "continue to look the other way".

In another development, more than 40 trade unions and Catalan associations called a region-wide strike on Tuesday due to "the grave violation of rights and freedoms".

Earlier, as voting ended, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Catalans had been fooled into taking part in an illegal vote. He called it a "mockery" of democracy.

Large crowds of independence supporters gathered in the centre of the regional capital Barcelona on Sunday evening, waving flags and singing the Catalan anthem.

How bad was the violence?
The Catalan government said more than 800 people had been injured in clashes across the region. Those figures included people who had suffered relatively minor complaints such as anxiety attacks.

The Spanish interior ministry said 12 police officers had been hurt and three people arrested. It added that 92 polling stations had been closed.

In Girona, riot police smashed their way into a polling station where Mr Puigdemont was due to vote, and forcibly removed those inside. Mr Puigdemont voted at another station.

The BBC's Tom Burridge in Barcelona witnessed police being chased away from one polling booth after they had raided it.

TV footage showed riot police using batons to beat a group of firefighters who were protecting crowds in Girona.

The national police and Guardia Civil - a military force charged with police duties - were sent into Catalonia in large numbers to prevent the vote.

The Catalan police - the Mossos d'Esquadra - have been placed under Madrid's control, however witnesses said they showed little inclination to use force on protesters.

Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau condemned police actions against the region's "defenceless" population, but Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said police had "acted with professionalism and in a proportionate way".

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41463719

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

Now that's how you divide a nation!

 

[curryjunkie]

Now that's how you divide a nation!

texas is furiously scribbling notes

 

[scoopj]

Spain had the trump card in that they could have voted them out of the EU. Foolish response. They should have let them vote. It passes, they don't recognize it. It fails, the people of Catalonia have spoken.

 

[LEGS MAHONEY]

So what you are basically saying is that Catalan culture, as a distinct culture from Spanish culture, is insignificant , and therefore does not warrant an independence movement ?

No Catalan culture is no more distinct than other regions of Spain are from each other. The whole separatist movement rests on the notion that they are so different than Spanish culture thus need to be recognized as their own people but as i noted theres a variety of different regions of Spain all with their distinct culture and dialects with about the same difference from one another as the Catalonians are with everyone else in the country. Therefore the whole thing is ridiculous and using this logic no one is really "Spanish" and every region should break up into its own autonomous nations

In reality this movement is more comparable to the notion of certain Californians wanting to separate from the states or the venetian succession movement than it is to some small ethnic group in a land wishing to be recognized as their own country

Quite frankly the people being suckered into the separatist cause don't seem to grasp Spanish people's history or understand how giant of cocks they can be with the zealousness of their regional pride.

 

[Renard]

Spain's reaction on this is massively WTF.

 

[Scheme]

That's actually pretty scary stuff, especially for a (formerly) first world country in 2017.

 

[JohnnySagebrush]

Spain's reaction on this is massively WTF.

One would think they must know something we don’t, as it does appear to be such blatantly horrible statecraft. Rajoy comes out of this looking like Franco incarnate.
I’m wondering if the Spanish govt was doing their own polling and picked up on a big surge in secession support.

Yeah, the smart move seems to be to have let the vote happen, and if successful, call it unconstitutional and deal with it then.

The question now is, “Now what?”

 

[FrankensteinMMA]

Im not for the regions independence but like the poster said above the governments actions are too heavy handed and will just push people into the nationalists favor.

But again this separatist bullshit just highlights the spanish's problem. You just had a group of cunts run amuck in Barcelona and run over people and had alot worse planned that was hopefully entirely foiled. Its clear theres a migrant issue with Spain but you got assholes that would rather focus on getting their own special country due to minor differences in culture or language.

The reason why spain was ripe for foreigners invading and conquering it for centuries and centuries was because the people were too busy squabbling over petty tribal bullshit rather than unifying together to mount a significant offense. And look its happening again. If it wont be the government fucking everyone over it will radical islam and hordes of third worlders that have no interest in being productive

But hey independent Catalonia! Independent Galicia !! Independent Andalucia!!

I agree about the petty tribal issues instead of focusing on bigger problems.

We saw it happen to the africans...the native americans....we still see it with the descendants of both today in the inner cities...

Blacks and gang tribal warfare instead of uniting for a greater cause to elevate the african american experience.

 

[Arkain2K]

Rajoy says rule of law prevailed by blocking Catalan vote

Madrid (AFP) - Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Sunday that the rule of law had prevailed in Catalonia because an independence referendum in the region prohibited by the courts had been blocked.

"Today there has not been a self-determination referendum in Catalonia. The rule of law remains in force with all its strength," he said in a televised address.

Security forces "performed their duty" in Catalonia and respected a court order to prevent voting from taking place, he added in his first public comments on Sunday's banned referendum.

"It would have been easier for everyone to look the other way," the conservative prime minister said.

The referendum was a "real attack on the rule of law... to which the state reacted with firmness and serenity".

"We have fulfilled our obligation, we have acted according to the law and only according to the law," he added.

At least 92 people were injured clashes between police and protesters, two of them seriously, a spokeswoman for the Catalan government's health department said, out of a total of 761 people who went to hospitals and health centres.

Spain's interior ministry said 33 police officers needed medical treatment.

Police baton-charged and fired rubber bullets to disperse crowds protecting polling stations in Barcelona and other towns and cities in the Catalan region.

Videos posted on social media showed police dragging voters from polling stations by their hair, throwing people down stairs and attacking Catalan firefighters who were protecting polling stations.

Catalan president Carles Puigdemont said police had used "indiscriminate force" against people demonstrating "peacefully".

Police had closed 319 polling stations set up for the referendum, Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull told a news conference.

The Catalan government had said on Friday this it would have some 2,300 polling stations across Catalonia but it was unclear how many actually opened.

Several leftist Spanish politicians have demanded Rajoy resign because of the police crackdown against the protesters.

But the prime minister blamed the unrest on the Catalan government.

"The responsibility for these acts solely and exclusively falls on those who promoted the rupture of legality and coexistence," he said.

He called the referendum a process that "only served to sow division, push citizens to confrontation and the streets to revolt."

"I will not close any door, I have never done it," the prime minister added, suggesting he would be willing to negotiate with Catalonia to try to satisfy the region's demands for greater autonomy.

"But it will always be within the framework of law and democracy," he said.

Polls show Catalans are divided on the question of independence but the vast majority back a legal referendum on the issue to settle the issue.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/3...le-of-law-prevailed-by-blocking-catalan-vote/

 

[Bald1]

NATO should move in its military and enforce their totally consistent policy of defending people's right to self determination.

Self determination of a people is a punchline in some off colored joke.

 

[Arkain2K]

That flying stomp from the stairwell

It's not everyday when a referendum give me flashbacks of Wanderlei Silva in PRIDE.

 

[Arkain2K]

Accurate reenactment of Strikeforce: Alistair Overeem vs. Brett Rogers.

Spoiler

 

[Anung Un Rama]

Way over the top reaction....wow. This is coming for all of us.

 

[Arkain2K]

Catalan referendum: muted response from EU leaders over police crackdown

Despite calls from Catalan authorities to condemn the brutal police crackdown on their independence referendum, the EU and most member states were reluctant to respond formally, seemingly viewing the dispute as an internal Spanish matter.

Belgium’s prime minister, Charles Michel, was among the few national leaders to denounce the violence, which the Catalan government said had left 465 people injured as police forcibly removed voters from polling stations and on one occasion fired rubber bullets.

“Violence can never be the answer!” Michel said on Twitter. His Slovenian counterpart, Miro Cerar, also expressed his concern, saying he was “concerned” and calling for “political dialogue, rule of law and peaceful solutions”.



Former Belgian prime minister and senior MEP Guy Verhofstadt also said that while he did “not want to interfere” in Spain’s domestic affairs, “I absolutely condemn what happened today in Catalonia”. It was “high time for de-escalation,” he said.



In Britain, the prime minister, Theresa May, faced mounting calls to speak out against the scenes of police brutality in Catalonia after Labour, the SNP and the Liberal Democrats all criticised the Spanish government.

Human right groups also condemned the violence. Human Rights Watch said the state “has a duty to protect the rights to peaceful assembly and free expression” both of those opposed to independence and those who supported it.

Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn said the police violence against citizens was “shocking” and called on the Spanish government to “act to end it now”. Vince Cable, the Lib Dem leader, branded the police response “brutal and completely disproportionate”.

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish National party leader, also said she was concerned and that people “should be allowed to vote peacefully”. The vote is of particular interest in Scotland, which in 2014 voted in its own heated but largely peaceful independence referendum to remain in the the UK.

“Regardless of views on independence, we should all condemn the scenes being witnessed and call on Spain to change course before someone is seriously hurt,” Sturgeon said on Twitter.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “The referendum is a matter for the Spanish government and people. We want to see Spanish law and the Spanish constitution respected and the rule of law upheld.”

Raül Romeva, Catalonia’s foreign minister, said on Sunday the pro-independence regional government had informed the EU of a “violation of fundamental rights that puts the very EU at risk”.

The bloc did not immediately respond to his demand that it “condemn the violence European citizens are suffering”. The referendum, which has been ruled illegal by Spain’s constitutional court, places the EU in a difficult position.

Romeva insisted last month that Brussels could no longer argue the vote was a domestic issue, but must “defend the Treaty of the European Union and stand for the general interest of Catalan citizens as the EU citizens that they are”.

Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau, who opposes independence but supports the right of Catalans to vote on the question, also called in an article in the Guardian for the EU to “defend the fundamental rights of Catalan citizens”.

But Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, has said that Brussels must abide by the decisions of the Spanish government and of Spain’s constitutional court.

The commission has said on several occasions that a vote in favour of Catalan independence would be recognised but only if the referendum that produced it complied with the Spanish constitution and had been ruled legal.

Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, said Labour believed debates on sovereignty “should be resolved in accordance with rules and laws” and any referendum “needs to be both democratic and fair”.

But it was “unacceptable for the Spanish authorities to overreact ... through aggressive police action and the forcible closure of polling stations,” Thornberry said. “All sides must strive to come together and reach a political solution to this constitutional crisis.”

Video footage showed police hitting people in the crowd with batons while voters peacefully held up their hands, officers dragging women voters from polling stations by their hair, and Spanish police attacking Catalan firefighters.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...eu-leaders-remain-muted-over-police-crackdown

 

[Nooob]

USA, Europe, and the Middle East are heading toward Balkanization.

Russia and China are masterbating right now. Their divide and conquer strategic is gonna succeed.

Interesting times ahead.