That's because you don't live here.

https://twitter.com/interiorgob/status/914457752528916480

https://twitter.com/guardiacivil/status/914441714517061633

As someone who has been trying to vote for nearly 2 decades here in the US but isn't allowed to because he's a male victim of domestic violence, something city, county and sate governments have refused to acknowledge, this isn't an isolated incident.

And I've lost count how many times the local police have stopped me and tried to steal electronic items like my laptop from my backpack saying that they aren't mine. I pdf'ed my receipts a long time ago.

See? I told you before. It is "Europe", after all! They don't like referendums, at all. People having different opinion to that of the carefully planted puppets of the "Union" inside any country, at any given time...? No, we can't have that, that won't do! People seeking freedom and independence? Are you crazy?

1. Brexit. "Union" does its best- i mean worst, currently, in order to have it foiled. Demanding ransom of 20 billion euros included.
2. Our own referendum. Government turned our 64% blatant NO (no to european negotiations at the time, because they were actually orders + blackmails, while our former economy minister even *recorded* them during talks without them knowing), into YES and sold us all out (then they also fired said minister, too)!
3. Now, Spain.

And god only knows what next. Sorry people, old Bradley warned you a long time ago... "Democracy" is its name, but you see *censor*, *propaganda*, *violence*, "enforced political opinions", "blackmail & punishment", to people who are merely exerting their democratic rights, all the time, here and there (and you must know *whose* mark, all those practices had been once, needless to say; yes, the one's you see everywhere, in the face of anyone who disagrees with you)! At least, you from EUSSR, warn beforehand that you don't want referendums and proceed to cancel them officially with law, before they actually happen, with all those "accidents", too... Instead of strangling (or trolling, in our case, here, locally) people like that and torturing them ultimately, economical case(s) aside.

I don't know, looking at those links, I see a lot more examples of old people and women being dragged away or pushed around by the police...

It's probably yet another case of assholes and extremists on both sides, and "innocent" people being caught in between in the fronts.

Well, UK did grant Scots the referendum...

I'll find it interesting how EU will react (ie. they will not react). Considering how harsh language EU has used against e.g. Poland and Hungary for minding their own business non-violently, and even the Czechs for not accepting to take asylum seekers from Italy and Greece, I'll find it laughable when EU will not say a word for Spain attacking its own people.

Oh well, double-standards and all that.

Still, I do understand why the non-Catalan Spaniards are against the referendum, but the Spanish Inquisition did the worst kind of decision there, by using violence to stop the voting. Now I am pretty sure the independence movement will get much more support among Catalans.

What is positive though that in this case Putin or any other foreign leader didn't send unidentified green soldiers and BUK missiles to Spanish soil, at least as far as I know.

I'm not going to reply to that actually. :D

You could see a lot of things here. For example, a tension between Civil Guard and Catalan police:

https://twitter.com/AUGC_Comunica/status/914476437784158208

EDIT: Also not sure what the hell just happened to GOG.

you aren't alone. XD

And don't worry about brad. That post will be gone before long.

It was doing it's weird "I'm gonna delay your post so you'll think it hasn't worked and post again" thing.

Brads well timed, 1/2 true random fact about me. Actually made me laugh! Not too hard to choose between the EU & the Tories.

Go out on the street with a provocative message and see how long it takes for trouble makers to arrive or be arrested by the police.

Yeah, I think that's part of the problem - separating the trouble makers and those just trying to vote/whatever else.

Putin was beating those old women. He also hides under your bed at night.

Kudos for sharing, Esmeralda95! So you are also calling them nationalists... Would you share links from the press or elsewhere, to events you describe? Because in Ukraine, the chaos broke out exactly once the right-wings have broken into police depots and armed themselves. Its then, that an armed group could shoot people under disguise (Maidan snipers).

I'd be interested in reported violence from said nationalists. Usually, its not regular people, who support local nationalism, but wanna-be/new "elite", that tries to push through existing elite and justify own actions... This is when "sacred victims" come in play.

I still don't understand the reaction from EU too, its as if they are actually interested in these events becoming center of attention...

Well, I'm finally back at home. There wasn't a single incident and no one was wounded in my home town of about 10k-12k people. I voted, as did the majority of my fellow citizens, and all the votes could be counted. Afterwards we gathered at the town square, and while we were waiting for the results, we were astonished to watch "our president" Rajoy appear on TV saying that there hadn't been any referendum today in Catalonia.

About the violence that did take place in other towns and cities, I think the images that are going around the world speak for themselves. I won't deny that some independentists may have acted violently (there are brainless assholes everywhere), but the latest figures I heard were talking of about 10-20 wounded policemen and more than 700 wounded civilians, and the use of rubber bullets/balls and tear gas by the Policía Nacional and the Guardia Civil. You be the judge it that's a proportionate or a disproportionate actuation.

Finally, we could argue a lot about the legitimacy or not of today's votations, and about the right of self-determination of Catalonia. But neither is this the appropriate place, nor I've got much energy left to do it (and anyway, none of the involved parties is gonna convince the other). But if there's a single thing you all have to know is that this...

...is completely and utterly false. It's an idea (almost a mantra) that has been repeated by the Spanish government and most of the Spanish political parties, and then in turn echoed by the Spanish media. But it's simply not true. The Catalan independentist movement has grown steadily since a long time ago, but specially during the last 7-8 years, and it's been growing from the bottom up. By the time the Catalan government fully embraced the idea and declared themselves pro-independence (around 2012 or 2013) there had already been many massive public demonstrations in the streets.

As I said before, these next few days are going to be extremely interesting. :)