Catalan president Carles Puigdemont casting his ballot at a polling
station in Cornella del Terri on October 1, 2017, in a referendum on
independence for Catalonia banned by Madrid. He has said the region has
won the right to statehood following Sunday's contentious referendum.
PHOTO | AFP
BARCELONA
Catalan leader
Carles Puigdemont says the region has won the right to statehood
following Sunday's contentious referendum which was marred by violence.
He said the door had been opened to a unilateral declaration of independence.
Hundreds of people were injured as Spanish police used force to try to block voting.
The Spanish government had pledged to stop a poll that was declared illegal by the country's constitutional court.
Police officers prevented some people from voting, and seized ballot papers and boxes at polling stations.
SUFFERING
"With
this day of hope and suffering, the citizens of Catalonia have won the
right to an independent state in the form a republic," Mr Puigdemont
said in a televised address flanked by other senior Catalan leaders.
He said the European Union could no longer "continue to look the other way".
Earlier,
as voting ended, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Catalans had
been fooled into taking part in an illegal vote. He called it a
"mockery" of democracy.
Large crowds
of independence supporters gathered in the centre of the regional
capital Barcelona on Sunday evening, cheering and waving Catalan flags.
The Catalan government said more than 800 people had been injured in clashes across the region.
The
Spanish interior ministry said 12 police officers had been hurt and
three people arrested. It added that 92 polling stations had been
closed.
No comments :
Post a Comment