WITH the Spanish press and media hidebound by the Madrid government, the people of Catalonia took to social media to inform the world about the shocking treatment of citizens trying to exercise their right to vote.
In reply, the Spanish government’s various ministries and its state police force the Guardia Civil went on a social media offensive against the Catalan authorities and the people trying to vote in the referendum.
Raul Romeva i Rueda, the Catalan government’s minister of foreign affairs, posted on Twitter pictures that included a woman with blood pouring from a head wound. He wrote: “The Spanish govt has shown us their arguments: repression & violence. We will continue to show ours: ballot boxes, votes, democracy & peace.”
Perhaps the most remarkable Twitter exchange of the day came from the Madrid-controlled Guardia Civil, who launched an outspoken attack on the Mossos D’Esquadra, the Catalonian police force. The accompanying video showed Guardia Civil officers and Mossos officers in an ugly shouting match after the latter force went to the defence of protestors who were being roughly handled.
The Guardia Civil tweeted: “Some seem to be unclear. Shameful.”
They also tweeted images of two Mossos officers eating their lunch rather than joining in the repression, “ignoring the court order” to stop the referendum.
There was another clash of uniforms – this time Catalans for Yes tweeted images of Guardia Civil in full riot gear “attacking Catalan firefighters who were trying to protect #CatalanReferendum voters”.
Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido posted a video on Twitter of a police officer helping a man and his young child, saying the police response was “proportional and professional”.
Government propaganda included the Interior Ministry tweeting: “Exposing children to this type of situation and using them during the day is another sign of intolerable unreason.”
The ministry also posted a video on Twitter of Guardia Civil officers being pelted with stones, commenting: “The violence continues against our agents.”
Journalists posted numerous images of riot police attacking citizens. Radio Catalan’s Mar Riera Sola tweeted footage of a baton charge by police in the village of Sant Iscle de Vallalta, 30 miles north-east of Barcelona, commenting: “The police’s brutal entry.”
Twitter and Facebook showed images of police vehicles gathering across Catalonia overnight and also had videos of voters coming together outside polling stations from early morning.
The first violence was shown on Twitter at 9am, when Guardia Civil officers in riot gear were shown manhandling an elderly man who collapsed on the ground in Barcelona.
Anna Codina@ultrasonica tweeted a video of a full-scale brawl followed by the firing of rubber bullets in Barcelona, while at 10.30am Alex Tort posted a video of a man hurt by a rubber bullet.
The Guardia Civil tweeted in reply that it was “resisting harassment and provocation” while completing its functions “in defence of the law”.
One amazing image posted by David d’Enterria showed a man draped in a Spanish national flag being applauded as he entered a polling station.
D’Enterria wrote: “People at polling station in #Catalonia applaud voter w/ Spain flag. We vote YES or NO but we vote.”
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