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They Hate Us More Now
Part 4
A Catalan independence voter is held down police. Photo by Almagro/Sipa via AP Images.
“Sometimes I think they (police) might have been ordered to be violent because they wanted to set an example; if you do this, look at what happens. But it was a mistake, a lot of people lost their emotional belief in the state after this day. People who were in the places that this violence happened don’t ever want to talk about or be in Spain ever again.”
Pere Millan (Pro-independence)
October 1, 2017, is a day that Esther Andres will never forget.
She knew that there was an independence referendum going on, but why would she participate? She didn’t really have a strong opinion either way on the issue.
But, then she started to see the pictures of protesters. Her fellow Catalans were being viciously beaten by representatives of the state.
Her first reaction was disbelief and then she made a decision.
“Before October 1, I always looked at this (independence) as a complicated situation,” said Andres. “What I feel now is that I want to leave because of how people were treated. If we are supposed to be equal in Spain and then we are treated like this, I think it’s better to be an absolutely independent state.”
This day has since gone down in history as one of the most infamous in recent memory.
It all started when the Catalan parliament which was run mainly by pro-independence parties passed a measure that would allow people to vote in a referendum on Catalan sovereignty on October 1, 2017.
The central government immediately denounced these measures as illegal because they violated articles 1 and 2 of the Constitution which states “the sovereignty of the Spanish people and the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation.”
The first response of Madrid was to confiscate ballot boxes.
But, independistes were undeterred, printed ballot papers at home, and waited in anticipation for October 1.
This was the day that they would finally declare their independence.
Voters carry ballot boxes to the polls after police had confiscated the originals. Photo by Pau Barrena/AFP via Getty Images
A woman celebrates voting in the Independence referendum. Photo by AP.
“Voting is a form of protest; a way to show that you’re against the current direction of this country and they didn’t allow us. And when the police came- shit.”
Esther Andres (Pro-independence)
Police attempt to break into a polling station. Photo by Reuters.
Police aim rubber bullets at voters. Photo by AP
In preparation for October 1, the Spanish state mobilized.
Heavily-armed police were brought in from all over the country in a bid to deter people from voting in a referendum that was declared illegal.
But, the independistes were unmoved, they came to the polling stations, some voted and that’s when the violence started.
The police began beating protestors in a bid to prevent them from casting their ballots.
No one was spared, even the elderly and children were hurt in the chaos.
Catalan firefighters were immediately deployed to the scene and attempted to protect protesters from further harm- they were also attacked for this; in total, the Catalan government said that nearly 900 people were injured in the chaos.
The UN Human Rights Watch declared that the actions of the Spanish government appeared to violate the fundamental rights of people.
I, like Andres, remember watching the pictures come in on social media and being absolutely horrified. Before this day, I had very little interest in the matters of a region that seemed so far away from Canada. After I saw what happened to my grandfather’s people, I became motivated to learn as much as I possibly could about this region. Without the police actions on October 1, I probably wouldn’t be writing this story right now.
For journalist and independiste Pere Millan, this action was indicative of a minority of Spaniards that harbour hate towards Catalans.
“There are groups of people who represent a Spanish nationalism and are against Catalonia,” said Millan. “Spain is in a complicated moment right now and people want to blame outsiders. There are places in Spain which are richer, like Catalonia, and other places may be jealous. But we’ve always been a target for Spanish nationalism.”
Independiste Guillem Catena agrees with this sentiment, but he thinks that hate towards Catalans has grown in recent years.
“If you do a referendum, we’ll send thousands of cops. I think the first of October showed that the hate for us is much bigger than previously,” said Catena.
He also condemns the silence of the international community about this day.
“Foreign governments won’t help us because of business and political reasons. Every country has its Catalonia,” said Catena. “I’m annoyed that Europe has abandoned us. They’ve almost kicked us while we’re down.”
The results of the referendum were that 92 per cent of voters were for independence, but the turnout was only about 43 per cent of the total population.
Guardian video which compiles some of the social media footage from October 1. WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT.
Catalan firefighters attempt to protect voters. WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT. (original footage from Twitter user@Naiz_info)
Police attack firefighters who were protecting voters. WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT. Original video from Twitter user@CatalanForYes
Firefighters attempt to defend voters from the police by forming a human wall. Photo by Reuters
“When a state is attacked, when its unity is threatened, it has to defend itself. This is not oppression”
Gemma Morales (Anti-independence)
A man in an Estelada shirt and holding flowers faces off with an officer. Photo by Reuters.
Police drag a woman out of a polling station. Photo by EPA.
Supporters of anti-independence have a different view of what happened that day.
Many question the official injury report that listed nearly 900 people. They point to the Catalan Health Department, which manages healthcare in the region, admitting that only 4 people had been hospitalized.
“Mostly what was attended to were bruises, dizziness and anxiety attacks,” according to the department.
The Spanish Interior Ministry also claimed that 431 officers were injured by protesters.
Morales condemns the violence that happened on that day but agrees that it was blown out of proportion.
“If you were to look at Catalan media, you would think that there were 1000 deaths,” she said. “But, that’s simply not the case.”
She also thinks that breaking the law has consequences.
“If you look at it from a lawful point of view, they were trespassing on public property and we have to follow the law,” said Morales. “If you resist police when they are trying to uphold the law, logically something will happen because they are trying to uphold the law.”
“If I have to pay taxes, they have to follow the law. We have obligations that we have to follow; we can’t just one day decide to have a referendum.”
But for Andres, the exact numbers of casualties are not important. She saw what happened to Catalans when they tried to vote, and now she can’t stand to be in a country that displayed such hate towards her people.
“There’s a lot of anti-Catalunya propaganda. Anything that is said about Catalans is done in a hateful way,” said Andres. “We just want to arrive at independence, there’s no problem with people in the streets, but there are problems with the state and its actions.”
But, the freedom that Andres craves could deliver some unwanted consequences.
The official medical report from the October 1 referendum. Source: Catalan Department of Health.
A woman stares down a police officer. Photo by David Ramos via Getty Images.
Crowds cower in front of a policeman. Mariano Rajoy, Spanish Prime Minister at the time, thanked police for their action and said they had acted with "firmness and serenity" Photo by AP
Police confront a terrified woman. Photo by AFP/Getty Images.
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