Catalonia referendum: Catalans to ‘declare INDEPENDENCE’ after 90 per cent Yes vote

In a statement last night, the region’s president said
Catalans had won the right to form a sovereign state
in the landslide vote.
This comes after violent clashes between police and
protestors left 850 injured during the referendum,
which has been declared illegal by Madrid.
In a statement posted by Spain Report late last night,
First Minister Carles Puigdemont said: “The Catalan
government will transmit to the Catalan Parliament,
the seat and expression of the sovereignty of our
people, the results of the referendum, so that it can
act according to that laid out in the referendum law.
"Catalonia has won sovereignty and respect and its
institutions have the duty to implement that result.”
Catalonia's leader said the Catalan government will
implement the result of the referendum
Catalonia votes to
LEAVE Spain as 90
per cent say 'Yes' in
referendum
Catalan referendum:
Shock video shows
man receiving CPR
during protest
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Some Catalan voters were prevented from casting
their ballot by Spanish national police
Mr
Puigdemont said Spain has "written a shameful new
page in its history with Catalonia" and attacks by
police on voters amounted to an abuse of human
rights.
Appealing to European leaders, he said the issue was
"no longer an internal Spanish matter".
Catalan officials say 90 per cent of the 2.26 million
votes cast were in favour of independence.
But Mr Puigdemont did not announce any official
results in his statement.
RELATED VIDEOS
Shocking moment
Spanish police
ATTACK Catalan
firefighters
Spanish police
break down door of
Catalan polling
station
Thousands of national police, the Guardia Civil, were
deployed to the region by the Spanish government to
close polling stations and prevent would-be voters from
casting their ballot.
Hundreds of people were injured as police in riot gear
used batons and reportedly fired rubber bullets in
clashes with would-be voters and protestors.
Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull announced
shortly after midnight on Sunday that 2,262,424 ballot
papers had been counted.
He said 2,020,144 of these were "yes" votes and just
176,565 were "no" votes.
Scenes at the Catalan
independence referendum
Sun, October 1, 2017
Scenes at the Catalan independence referendum
PLAY
People clash with Spanish Guardia Civil [AFP/Getty
Images]
AFP/GETTY IMAGES 1 of 15
The Catalan government said hundreds of polling
stations - some 14 per cent of the total - had been
closed by police yesterday.
The Spanish Home Office disputed this and said
Guardia Civil officers had closed just four per cent.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said: “There has
not been an independence referendum in Catalonia
today.”
He added Spain was "a mature democracy" and "a
great nation".

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