User:Calthinus/Violence and injuries rewrite



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, 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, 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. The police used force to try to reach the voting tables, in some cases using batons against firefighters and civilians, and dragged some of them away. The police made multiple charges. 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. 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.

The government endorsed the police actions ordered by the High Court o Justice of Catalonia. Carles Puigdemont accused Spanish authorities of "unjustified, disproportionate and irresponsible violence" and showed a "dreadful external image of Spain" while Amnesty International criticized what it called "excessive and unnecessary use of force" by the National Police and the Civil Guard. 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.

Various images and reports used to magnify the claims of police violence were circulated but were later found to be inaccurate or photoshopped, 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. 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. 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. 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. According to various sources previously reported figures for civilians and police may have been exaggerated. 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. 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.

Part of section to move to "Press coverage" -- now to be titled "Press coverage and social media"
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. The news sites Okdiario and Periodista Digital were also accused of falsely trying to discredit some of those involved in police violence episodes.