Catalans Occupy Schools, Blockade Roads Amid Police/Government Threats, "History's About To Be Written"
s tensions come to a boiling point across Catalonia, separatists are occupying more than 160 schools designated as polling stations on Saturday in an attempt to keep them open ahead of Sunday’s referendum on independence from Spain.
“The history of my country is going to be decided in the next few hours, so there’s no way I’m going to be staying at home in bed and watch it on TV,” said Eduard Elías, 50, a computer science engineer at a school in the Raval neighborhood of Barcelona, adding that he would leave only if the confrontation became violent.
“Imagine you would have been offered the chance to fight alongside George Washington,” Mr. Elías said.
“At that time, revolution meant weapons and war, but we’re now in the 21st century and we will have our paper ballots instead to bring about real change.”
But, as The FT reports, a top Spanish official in Catalonia said that police had sealed off more than half of the 2,315 designated polling stations.
Spanish national police and their Catalan counterparts have orders to close all polling stations in the region by 6am on Sunday.
Spanish courts have ruled the referendum illegal and the central government in Madrid has voted to stop it.
Pro-independence supporters are hoping the police will be unable or unwilling to physically stop them voting them if they gather in sufficient numbers.
Catalan’s regional government, elected in 2015, has said that it will declare independence within 48 hours of a Yes vote.
This could force the Spanish state to step in and temporarily suspend Catalan autonomy, taking Madrid into uncharted constitutional territory.
During a demonstration in Barcelona on Friday night, regional president Carles Puigdemont said that the Catalan nation had “already won” ahead of Sunday’s vote.
“We have already won, we have won over the fears and the threats of an authoritarian state that didn’t want to let us get this far and tried to make us surrender at the first sign of difficulty,” he said.
“On Sunday we have a date with the future, and on Monday we will begin to take that path,” he said, although he gave no indication of how exactly they would go about trying to take independence in the event of a Yes vote.
Sunday’s vote is illegal and a declaration of independence would have little international support. However, a strong turnout and a majority Yes vote could embolden the long-term separatist cause.
Analysts also warn of the danger of increased anti-Madrid sentiment in the region if Spanish authorities crack down hard.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-0...policegovernme
Connect With Us