Catalonia Mayors Exercise Right to Remain Silent in Referendum Interrogation

Police Continue Raids, But Fail to Find Ballot Boxes

With less than two weeks to go for the scheduled referendum on secession in Catalonia, Spanish national police continue to feverishly search the region, trying to find voting papers and ballot boxes to confiscate in an attempt to undermine the vote.

Elsewhere, Spanish forces have begun bringing in Catalonian mayors for questioning, trying to dig up information to be used in the crackdown. So far that’s gone very poorly, with early mayors brought in remaining silent during questioning.

Catalonia, the northeast region of Spain, is among the nation’s wealthiest regions, and has a long history of autonomy. The government’s crackdowns on autonomy, however, have fueled a growing movement calling for them to secede outright and become independent.

The Spanish government has threatened “extreme measures” to prevent such a referendum taking place, though police efforts to prevent the vote so far seem to have failed, and all indications are that Catalonia still intends to vote.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.