Preliminary results announced after Spanish prime minister claims ‘no referendum has been held in Catalonia today’
Nicola Sturgeon has criticised the response from the foreign office calling it “shamefully weak”.
Tweeting a screenshot of the earlier foreign office statement, the first minister of Scotland said a true friend would tell Spain what happened today was wrong.
Statement from @foreignoffice on #Catalonia is shamefully weak. A true friend of Spain would tell them today’s actions wrong and damaging. pic.twitter.com/bBnCmn5BWw
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) October 1, 2017
In a press conference a short time ago, a defiant Mariano Rajoy blamed unrest on the Catalan government.
He called the referendum “a process that has only served to sow division, to confront citizens and to provoke unwanted situations has failed” and added that it has created “serious damage to coexistence”.
He said:
The responsibility for these acts solely and exclusively falls on those who promoted the rupture of legality and coexistence ...
The vast majority of the people of Catalonia did not want to participate in the secessionists’ script. They have shown that they are law-abiding people and quietly ignored the call [to vote] … All Spaniards value their attitude.
He went on to praise Spanish police for defending role of law, thanked the EU for its support and said the actions of the Spanish government were within the law.
We cannot allow the progress of the past 40 years to be replaced by blackmail.
Today we all have reasons to trust our democracy. This only served to hurt our coexistence. I offer dialogue within law. I expect them (Catalans) to renounce to what they have done so far.
In Barcelona, people gathered to watch the Spanish prime minister’s speech on a big screen. When he said that the majority of people had not wanted to participate in the referendum, the crowd reacted with derision and anger.
The Catalan government’s pollster recently found that 70% wanted a referendum on the territory’s future, although support for independence is only 41%.
#CatalanReferendum - Barcelonans react to Rajoy's press-conference #plazacatalunya
— Ruptly (@Ruptly) October 1, 2017
LIVE: https://t.co/J2Qhxyrjnz pic.twitter.com/H7rFserbpZ
Mariano Rajoy is now speaking in a press conference. He says: “Today there was no referendum on self-determination in Catalonia.”
The large majority of Catalonia did not want to participate in today’s referendum and they had obeyed the law, he added. He said he hoped Catalan leaders would now give up on their separatist goals and get back to political normality.
Polling stations closed in Catalonia’s controversial referendum at 8pm local time, with ballot boxes being reportedly taken to secret locations.
More from the speech to follow.
A total of 761 people needed assistance from Catalonia’s Medical Emergency Systems, according to the Catalan department of health. A total of 335 have been hurt in Barcelona alone.
Ferits durant el #referèndum de #1OCT a Catalunya (19.30h) #CatalanReferendum pic.twitter.com/slGsQGQMuW
— Salut (@salutcat) October 1, 2017
Earlier in Girona, residents were building barricades in front of polling stations to prevent police closing them before 8pm.
Here are some shots from outside a sports centre and a school.
If you are just joining us, catch up with this full report on today’s events in Catalonia from my colleagues Sam Jones and Stephen Burgen.
The Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy is due to speak in a press conference at 8.15pm local time. We’ll bring you the key points from that shortly.
Several leftwing Spanish politicians have demanded Mariano Rajoy’s resignation, the AFP news agency reports.
Barcelona mayor Ada Colau said the prime minister, who leads the ruling conservative Popular party (PP), “had crossed all red lines”.
“He is a coward who does not live up to his state responsibilities... as a result he must resign,” she told reporters.
Colau demanded that police stop their crackdown against the referendum, which Spain’s central government and the courts have deemed illegal.
Police have baton-charged and fired rubber bullets to disperse crowds protecting polling stations in Barcelona and other towns and cities.
Videos posted on social media show police dragging voters from polling stations by their hair, throwing people down stairs and attacking Catalan firefighters who were protecting polling stations.
Catalan’s department of health said 465 people had been treated across the province in relation to the violence.
Pablo Iglesias, the leader of leftwing party Podemos, referenced PP’s allies in parliament in a series of posts on Twitter.
He said:
To open a new scenario of dialogue and coexistence, it is necessary to send the PP and Ciudadanos to the opposition.
If something breaks Spain it will be because the PP and those who support it in parliament continue to destroy democracy,” he added in messages accompanied by pictures of injured protesters, some of them bleeding.
Pablo Echenique, a leading member of Podemos, wrote on Facebook that the PP’s policies in Catalonia, could “fracture a society and destroy a country … you have to remove the tumour before it kills the patient”.
PP spokesman Fernando Martinez-Maillo defended the government, saying that “the only ones responsible for what is happening in Catalonia today is [Catalan president Carles] Puigdemont, the government of Catalonia and its partners.”
Max Borrell Espinosa was in the Jaume Balmes high school in Barcelona when riot police charged in this morning. The 17-year-old, who is not a student at the school but lives nearby, says young and old alike were beaten with truncheons.
He said:
Yesterday around 300 of us decided to spend the night in Jaume Balmes secondary school, playing sport, listening to music and watching movies in a relaxed and festive atmosphere with the aim of being able to open the school on Sunday for the referendum.
This morning, when we opened the doors, vanloads of riot police arrived. We had agreed on a policy of passive resistance to protect the ballot boxes. The aggression of the state security forces created an atmosphere of tension, beating the young and elderly alike with their truncheons.
After what happened in Jaume Balmes and many other polling stations, there is a widespread feeling among all Catalans that we are fighting to make this democratic process a reality. We are powerless faced with the repression of the Spanish government but brave enough to carry on with this process that will allow us to decide our future in a democratic fashion.
The Liberal Democrat leader, Vince Cable, has said Boris Johnson should call in the Spanish ambassador and tell him that the police response to the Catalonian independence referendum is unacceptable.
Cable said:
Police in a democracy should never drag people violently out of polling stations, whatever the arguments for or against holding a referendum. The police response looks to have been brutal and completely disproportionate.
The foreign secretary should break off from conspiring against the prime minister and call in the Spanish ambassador to tell him that this is unacceptable.
