User:Calthinus/Violence and injuries rewrite

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Spanish National Police officers being pursued by a crowd which screams and whistles them; a protester is injured in an eye by a rubber bullet on 1 October 2017 in Barcelona.

On the day of the poll, the Mossos d'Esquadra did not execute the direct order issued by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia to close the voting centers before they opened and to confiscate voting materials. After this unexpected development,[1] the Spanish police and the Guardia Civil mounted operations to execute the order. The security forces met resistance from citizens who obstructed their access to the voting tables; in Sant Julia de Ramis, where Puigdemont was expected to vote,[2] they were joined by Corps of Firefighters of Catalonia members who formed a "human shield" separating the police from civilians to help obstruct their access to the polling station.[3][4] The police used force to try to reach the voting tables[5], in some cases using batons against firefighters and civilians, and dragged some of them away.[6][4] The police made multiple charges.[7] In some other incidents the security forces were surrounded and driven out by the crowds. According to the Ministry of the Interior, rubber bullets were only used against demonstrators in one of those incidents in the Barcelona's Eixample district.[8] There were incidents in polling stations in Barcelona, Girona and elsewhere; the police forced entry to the premises, ejected the occupants, and seized ballot boxes, some of them containing votes.[7]

The government endorsed the police actions ordered by the High Court o Justice of Catalonia.[9] Carles Puigdemont accused Spanish authorities of "unjustified, disproportionate and irresponsible violence" and showed a "dreadful external image of Spain"[3] while Amnesty International criticized what it called "excessive and unnecessary use of force" by the National Police and the Civil Guard[10]. According to El País, after the first reports of violence, the government canceled the order given to the security forces and they pulled out early from the polling centers.[5]

Various images and reports used to magnify the claims of police violence were circulated but were later found to be inaccurate or photoshopped,[11][12][13] and reports argued later that the propagation of such posts, and conspiracy theories, had been amplified through the same network of social network profiles that had earlier promoted alt-right and pro-Putin views during earlier elections in Western countries[14]. A Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) councillor accused the police deliberately breaking her fingers one by one and of sexual abuse during a polling station evacuation, but later investigation disproved many of her statements.[15][16][13] The Spanish Ministry of the Interior instructed the Spanish Attorney General to investigate whether the accusations of police sexual abuse against protesters made by Mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau, who had mentioned the councilor's statements, could be considered a legal offense of slander against Spanish Law enforcement organisations.[17]

A judge from Barcelona is currently investigating the accusations of police violence made by the Generalitat against the national police and the civil guard. According to the judge there were 218 persons injured on that day, 20 of which were agents.[18][19] According to various sources previously reported figures for civilians and police may have been exaggerated.[20] According to the Generalitat de Catalunya, 844 people requested the services of the Catalan emergency health service, this number includes people with irritation by gas and and anxiety attacks. Of those injured, most were minor, but four people were hospitalised by the emergency health service and of those two were in serious condition, one due to impact from a rubber ball in the protests, the other for unrelated causes.[7] According to the Ministry of the Interior 431 Guardia Civil agents were injured, 39 of them required immediate medical treatment and the remaining 392 had injuries by bruises, scrapes, kicks and bites.[21] [22]

Part of section to move to "Press coverage" -- now to be titled "Press coverage and social media"[edit]

Various media reported on fake images of police violence against civilians that were posted in social networks. They included images of people injured in other events, including footage from strikes and anti-austerity protests 4-5 years prior, Turkish police charges and protests by miners.[11][12][13] The news sites Okdiario and Periodista Digital were also accused of falsely trying to discredit some of those involved in police violence episodes.[23][24]

  1. ^ Ordaz, Rebeca Carranco, Pablo (5 October 2017). "How the independence referendum has split the Catalan police force". El País.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ "Catalan president 'escaped Spanish police helicopters trying to stop him from voting in the illegal referendum by changing cars in a TUNNEL'". MailOnline. 2 October 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  3. ^ a b Jen Mills (1 October 2017). "Firefighters defend voters from riot police in Catalonia referendum". Metro.Co.Uk. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  4. ^ a b Richard A L Williams (1 October 2017). "Catalonia referendum: Firefighters attacked by Spanish police as they form human shield to protect voters". Independent.Co.Uk. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  5. ^ a b López-Fonseca, Óscar (2 October 2017). "Riot police operations called off early after outcry over violence in Catalonia". El País. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  6. ^ "Police vs firefighters: defining images of Catalan referendum". South China Morning Post. 2 October 2017. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  7. ^ a b c Congostrina, Alfonso L.; Rodríguez, Marta (2 October 2017). "La Generalitat cifra en 844 los atendidos por heridas y ataques de ansiedad". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  8. ^ "Denuncian la brutalidad policial en Aiguaviva, un pueblo de Girona: "Utilizaron gases. Se llevaron la urna y gritaron: ¡Viva España!"" [They denounce police brutality in Aiguaviva, a town from Girona: "They used gas. They took the ballot box and shout: ¡Viva España!"]. La Sexta (in Spanish). 1 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  9. ^ "Catalan referendum: 'Hundreds hurt' as police try to stop voters". BBC News. 1 October 2017.
  10. ^ "Spain: Excessive use of force by National Police and Civil Guard in Catalonia". Amnesty International. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  11. ^ a b "Violences policières en Catalogne : attention aux images trompeuses" (in French). Le Monde. 2 October 2017. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  12. ^ a b "Falsos heridos, banderas de Photoshop... Éstos fueron los bulos virales del 1-O" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  13. ^ a b c "Una ficción mucho más efectiva" (in Spanish). El Mundo. 4 October 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  14. ^ David Alandete (2 October 2017). "There's fake news in Catalonia too". El Pais. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  15. ^ "La mujer que aseguró que le habían roto los dedos de una mano dice ahora que solo tiene una inflamación" (in Spanish). ABC. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017. Marta Torrecillas envió un mensaje a una amiga en el que aseguraba que la Policía le había desalojado de un colegio electoral tirándola por las escaleras, arrojándole cosas y rompiéndole los dedos de la mano expresamente uno a uno. Sin embargo, en las imágenes del desalojo del citado colegio se ve cómo Torrecillas se tira al suelo cuando los agentes la invitan a abandonar el lugar y la agarran para que lo haga. Marta Torrecillas sent a message to a friend in which she claimed that the police had evicted her from an electoral college by throwing her down the stairs, throwing things at her and breaking her fingers expressly one by one. Nevertheless, in the images of the eviction of the mentioned school it is seen how Torrecillas thrown herself to the ground when the agents asked her to leave the place and they catch her so that she does it
  16. ^ "No tenía los dedos rotos sino inflamados: el desmentido de la votante del 1-O" (in Spanish). El Confidencial. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  17. ^ "Interior denuncia a Colau por acusar a Policía y Guardia Civil de agresiones sexuales" (in Spanish). El Confidencial. 2 October 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  18. ^ "Juez contabiliza 218 heridos en las cargas policiales en Barcelona el 1-O". La Vanguardia. EFE. 10 October 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  19. ^ Requeijo, Alejandro (6 October 2017). "El juez que investiga las cargas policiales: "No era ilegal" votar el 1-O". El Español (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  20. ^ Iglesias, Leyre (9 October 2017). ""Contamos como agresiones hasta las ansiedades por ver las cargas por televisión"". El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  21. ^ "Interior asegura que 431 policías y guardias civiles resultaron heridos en el dispositivo del 1-O". La Vanguardia. Europa Press. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  22. ^ Cotovio, Vasco (1 October 2017). "Hundreds injured as Spain cracks down on Catalan referendum". CNN. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  23. ^ "No, la mujer a la que se llevó la Guardia Civil en volandas no se hizo una foto con Otegi" (in Spanish). El Confidencial. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  24. ^ "El bulo de 'Okdiario' y 'Periodista Digital' sobre la "pacífica abuelita" del 1-O" (in Spanish). Público. 5 October 2017. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
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