That's bad:
Spanish police assaulted voters in Catalonia trying to cast ballots for an independence referendum in a crackdown surprising in its brutality.
The police broke into polling stations swinging batons, seizing ballot boxes and paper ballots, and forcibly preventing citizens from voting.
At least 400 people were injured in the melees, according to Barcelona's mayor.
I think, as the article notes, that this will add to secession's appeal. Many times I've mentioned the difference between the ineffective use of force and the effective use of force.
This was an ineffective use of force that will promote resistance. It was foolish because no Spanish government was going to approve the use of effective force--killing Catalonians in large numbers and detaining the survivors.
Madrid should have responded in the courts and in information "warfare" to delegitimize the illegal election and put the responsibility for escalating to violence on the secessionists.
The course of human events can begin with batons heard 'round the world, too. This is probably the real beginning of a new Catalonia state.
It will be interesting to see what the European Union position is if Catalonia declares independence and requests the EU's blessing to remain within the EU after independence.
Will the EU accept Catalonia as an existing member or demand an application?
Does Spain resist Catalonia as an EU state to punish it?
Does Spain withdraw from the EU in response if the EU does accept Catalonia within the EU or even just accepts their application?
UPDATE: The vote was a well-planned event with a lot of groups supporting it, including local police.
This makes the heavy Madrid response all the more foolish. The separatists were ready for that kind of response.
And if what I've read is true, a minority supported independence in Catalonia. But I bet now a majority supports independence just out of resentment to how the central government acted.
Ignoring the vote would have been better. Although the preparation by the separatists would have made even that approach tougher than I thought.
UPDATE: More. The Spanish king totally sides against Catalans (funny, I first wrote that in this post but it looked wrong so I changed it to Catalonians. Apparently Catalans is correct); Catalans appeal to the European Union for help; and the separatists wisely call for a new vote if the central government sees this one as illegitimate, knowing that separatists support shot up dramatically because of the heavy-handed response.
UPDATE: Spain's unity forged under pressure from the Islamic conquest is clearly fading:
UPDATE: Huh:
Catalonia will move on Monday to declare independence from Spain following Oct. 1’s banned referendum as the European Union nation nears a rupture that threatens the foundations of its young democracy.
I assume Spain rules out carpet bombing as a response. But dang.
There is no way this would have worked if Spain hadn't cracked down hard. The separatists no doubt want to move fast to exploit anger at Spain that may be fleeting.
The Kurds of Iraq are likely to think why not them, too? I'd answer that Iraq, Iran, and Turkey are different than Spain and France.
