Catalans defy heavy police force to vote “our own country”

Rudaw correspondent Znar Shino is in Catalonia today to report the region’s referendum on independence from Spain.

People have lined up in the rain outside polling stations set up inside schools, defying police intervention.

One woman who queued outside a closed station told Rudaw: “This is for our society to be free and say what we think.”

She said that more than anything the referendum was a right to decide what people want.

“We want to have the right to decide what we want,”

She said that Catalonia met all the conditions to becoming a state.

“I believe we are a country, we’ve our own language, our own nation, our own flag, our own culture and our own economy and we can be alone,”

“Borders are not important. We’ll continue to be friends with our neighbors.”

 

Another voter said that “The Spanish government is putting obstacles to the people to express,”

“From the Spanish government there have been many measures to prevent the right to express democratically,”

He said that people only wanted to practice the right of voting.

“It’s an expression of freedom, and free thinking,” the voter told Rudaw. “The Spanish government has not been respecting our right and culture.”