To absolutely no one’s surprise, the Spanish attempts to stop the Catalan independence referendum completely backfired:
Catalan officials claimed 90{c6770088f688fedd109195fb76ded7bc5c58269bd213a4319575b4bd99e8e8ff} of 2.2 million voters had called for independence in an ‘illegal’ referendum blighted by violent scenes which left at least 888 people injured. World leaders condemned the brutal scenes after officials revealed that hundreds of protesters have been injured so far. Officers were seen kicking and stamping on protesters as they stormed buildings and seized ballot boxes.
Footage captured in the village of Sarria de Ter in the province of Girona showed authorities using an axe to smash down the doors of a polling station where Catalan president Carles Puigdemont was due to cast his vote. He said the region had won the right to become an independent state with the referendum results due in a few days. And in Barcelona, the region’s capital, officers fired rubber bullets at thousands of protesters demonstrating against their votes being denied.
Now, I am as dubious as anyone else about the accuracy of the reported vote. But seriously, who on Earth is advising the Spanish government? One would think they actually wanted Catalonia to successfully succeed, given how inept and counterproductive their crackdown was.