Nearly 400 Spanish Policemen Injured in Catalan Referendum Clashes - Madrid

Nearly 400 officers of the Spanish police and Civil Guard required medical assistance following violent clashes with supporters of Catalonia’s independence referendum on Sunday, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said Tuesday.

MADRID (Sputnik) — On Sunday, Spain's northwestern autonomous region of Catalonia held an independence referendum despite the fact that the vote had been previously ruled illegal by the Spanish Constitutional Court.

Multiple violent clashes between the police and pro-independence activists on the voting day resulted in injuries of nearly 1,000. On Tuesday, pro-independence organizations staged a general strike against the disproportional use of force by police during the voting day. The Spanish government, in turn, accused the Catalan authorities of spreading incorrect information about the number of injuries during the clashes.

“We should safeguard rights and freedoms of all the Spanish citizens who have been trampled by the Generalitat [Catalan government],” Santamaria told a press conference, adding that 400 Spanish police and Civil Guard officers had been injured during the clashes.

She also accused the Catalan authorities of attempting to hinder the rule of law and force the region’s residents to act against their own will.

“They want to make Catalonia a place without law, it should not be allowed nor in Spain, neither in the European Union … The Catalans feel threatened, feel forced to make certain decisions against their will, and all of this is the Catalan authorities’ fault,” Santamaria stressed.

Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido spoke up for the security forces officers and noted their professionalism during the clashes in Catalonia on the voting day.

“The officers of the Civil Guard and National Police should know that they have the support of the interior minister and the entire ministry, who are on their side to defend their rights and dignity … I would like to note the professionalism and responsibility with which the National Police and Civil Guard officers have been acting to enforce the court’s rulings in the face of the threat which currently exists in Catalonia,” Zoido said, as quoted by the ministry’s press office.

The minister also stressed that the events in Catalonia were “unacceptable” and the government would take legal retaliatory measures “as it is provided for in a state governed by the rule of law.” He also promised that the Interior Ministry would take all the necessary steps to protect security forces officers from actions aimed at them.

According to the Catalan authorities, over 90 percent of more than 2.26 million voters who took part in the referendum supported independence.