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October 2, 2017

Spanish Police Launch Massive Crackdown on Catalonia Independence Vote
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In Spain, more than 800 people were injured Sunday after Spanish police
stormed polling stations across the country's Catalonia region and tried
to forcibly prevent people from voting in a Catalan independence
referendum, firing tear gas and physically attacking prospective voters.
This is Ana Marķa, a Catalan independence supporter.

Ana Marķa: "The victims are here. We are the victims. The more than 700
people who went to hospitals, those are victims, and not the others. And
here we have not been able to vote. We had to run from one place to
another to go and vote. What is that? We are not criminals. We are not
thieves. We are not corrupt like they are. We only wanted to vote."

The Spanish government says the referendum is illegal. Ahead of Sunday's
vote, Spanish police seized control of ballots and fliers, raided the
Catalan regional government's offices and even shut down
pro-independence websites. Late on Sunday night, the Catalan regional
government said 90 percent of Catalan voters chose independence. The
Catalan government now says it plans to unilaterally declare
independence from Spain within 48 hours. Spain says it will recognize
neither the results of the referendum nor a declaration of independence.
We'll have more on the crisis in Catalonia later in the broadcast.


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