Seriously, this isn't what I expect to see on the news in the 21st century. I'm not sure if they understand what 'democracy' is because this isn't.

Edit: Wait, they're attacking firefighters! What is this!? Why are they so determined to stop this vote that they'll commit atrocities against their own people?

"It is frightening. We are living in a world where human rights are being ignored.

What is happening at the moment is a mini revolution – the Catalans want a referendum and right now we are waiting for Guardias to arrive as that is what has been happening elsewhere. Old people have been attacked ... We are doing what we want to do which is just vote.

It has not been violent where we are but what we are hearing and seeing [is worrying]. Last night, I was outside the square eating sausages we cooked on the BBQ and talking about what tomorrow means and now we are talking about what Monday means and Tuesday. It is frightening. We are living in a world where human rights are being ignored. I think Catalonia deserves to be listened to.

If the rest of the world does not put its arms up and prevent the Spanish government from attacking peaceful demonstrators, then that is worrying.

I have got children with me at the moment. They know what is going on and they can feel this tension – it’s just not nice. You bring children up to be peaceful and seeing the establishment carry old ladies off. It would be great if everything news-wise shows what is really happenings."

Fiona Williamson, 44, from Barcelona

Just watch when Scotland want to say goodbye to the UK . :p

This is making brexit look like a nice summers picnic.

Hmm, Spanish civil war 2.0? Will Franco be coming back from the dead?

Stand by, democracy train is incoming in one,...

(gog please fix links!gog please fix links!gog please fix links!gog please fix links!gog please fix links!gog please fix links!gog please fix links!gog please fix links!)

...two,..

It would be seriously cool for Spanish natives to describe the situation. It looks like the society is "classically" split between those supporting riot police and those against it.

Btw, it does not look like few misbehaving officers, more like a standard riot police policy in action. Lets see if those officers will be prosecuted.

Agree .

I'm not sure anyone is supporting them, they'd be arrested for assaulting people. If standard riot police action is beating the daylights out of peaceful civilians - they need riot police for the riot police. I hope they get prosecuted for it along with whoever told them to attack the voters.

This can be happen in Hungary too in 2018 .

At least you;re seeing it on the news. Just think of all that happens that doesn't get reported.

“I was there last night and there were a couple of dozen people but when I went back at 5.30am there were maybe 300. The Mossos came, saw how many people there were, and left. A couple of hours later the ballot boxes arrived and we all started applauding. It was raining heavily. Then seven vanloads of Policia Nacional arrived. We all gathered around the front door and kept calm. There were some elderly people but no kids. Then 15 police in body armour and five more wearing balaclavas arrived. They started pushing us with their shields and throwing us aside but there were too many of us. Then more and more vanloads arrived from all sides.

They started pushing through and pulling people out. Then they broke in through another door and took away the ballot boxes and voting papers. Right then people didn’t know what to do because there were police in front and behind. They started dragging us out, often by the throat. Lots of women were dragged out by the hair. Then we saw them put the ballot boxes in a Seat, an ordinary car. We sat down in front of and behind their vans so they couldn’t leave. They took out their truncheons and began separating us. We went down carrer Marina, blocking them street by street. They started hitting us with truncheons but didn’t use their guns. We met up with another group and the police warned journalists to go away. They ran off and the police started firing rubber bullets. This was at the junction of Diputació and Sardenya. Everyone who could, fled, but others got hit, in the back and the knee. Everyone went off to find somewhere else to vote."

-Martí Pont, Aged 19.

On second thought,

No comment :P

Just gonna let the forum continue to eat itself.

Lets see...

But the guardiacivil twitter is quite a hot place right now.

The rest of today and the next few days are gonna be really intense and interesting in Catalonia.

Going back right now to my home town to join the people there and try to prevent the ballot boxes from being removed. I hope not to be arrested. :P

I wish you luck and hope they don't stop you.