'ULTIMA ORA 20:00
The referendum for the independence of Catalunya has been completed, but the day of the 1st October 2017 will remain as a black stain in the history of the region and of Spain.
There are no specific data at this time on the turnout of voters. The central Spanish government of Madrid has done all it could to abort the vote and to intimidate those who wanted to vote. Brutal force has been used by the Guardia Civil (gendarmerie) dispatched to Barcelona and to major urban areas of the autonomous region. The gendarmes forcibly evacuated polling stations and evicted without restrain those waiting to cast their ballot. Los Mossos (local police) have been accused by Madrid's Ministry of Interior to have stayed on the sides of the events.
At least 430 civilians had been injured by 15:00 hours, according to Barcelona's department of health. A majority are women and elderly citizens. The security forces have used freely fire arms, shooting rubber bullets.
The deliberate use of rubber bullets has been scrutinised, and condemned in the past on many occasions by the UN's Human Rights Committee and by the European Court of Human Rights ('ECtHR') as being in breach of Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ('ICCPR') and of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights ('ECHR'), respectively.
The photographs and video clip below illustrate the climate in Barcelona on this Sunday.
It is surprising, and regrettable, that until Sunday evening the European Council and the Commission have not attempted to talk the central Spanish government out of violence against, and disproportionate repression of defenceless civilians. The institutions of the EU have missed an opportunity to establish credibility as staunch defenders of human dignity and of freedom of expression among the public opinion of third countries, which aspire at becoming members of the Union.
La Guardia Civil evicts voters by force from polling stations
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