section européenne Lycée VINCI à AMBOISE

What is this referendum for ?

Catalonia has tried to stage an illegal referendum on independence from Spain. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said that regional officials had done heir best to hold the vote, but Madrid has cracked down on the efforts. In fact , the upshot of the referendum campaign is serious damage to the relationship between Spain’s central government and its Catalan citizens.

 SEPARATIST REFERENDUMS

It is common for secessionists to hold referendums on independence. When the central state negotiates the legality of a vote in advance, a referendum can lead to changes to territory, as would have been the case in Scotland in September 2014 and was the case in June 2016 for Brexit vote.

  A burning issue in Spain

Spain’s interior ministry has also provided an update on their operation to halt today’s independence referendum. 92 “illegal” voting centres have been closed by the national police and the Guardia Civil across Catalonia. 

The voting has been marred by a brutal police crackdown in which several instances of violence against voters have been recorded. Videos show police dragging voters from polling stations by their hair, unprovoked attacks on protesters and Spanish police attacking Catalan firefighters.

There have been several calls for the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, to resign over the police response from Catalan politicians and opposition MPs.

·        II / Unexpected consequences : Catalan’s department of health has said 465 people have been treated across the province in relation to the violence.  Among them , nine police officers and three members of the Guardia Civil have been injured so far. 

·         Morover Three people, including one girl, have been arrested for civil disobedience and attacking an officer. 

Reactions in Europe on October 1 st

·      

in Edinburgh.