BARCELONA: Spain’s central government demanded Sunday that Catalonia’s president Carles Puigdemont call off an independence referendum, dismissing the vote as a “farce”, as national police moved in to stop it.

“Puigdemont and his team are solely responsible for all that has happened today and for all that can happen if they do not put an end to this farce,” Madrid’s representative in Catalonia Enric Millo said at a news conference.

Catalonia’s emergency services said they had treated 38 people hurt during a police crackdown at polling stations. Most had suffered bruises, dizziness and anxiety attacks.

Spain’s interior ministry said 11 police officers were injured in clashes with protesters. Demonstrators had thrown rocks at police, it added in a Twitter message.

Catalonian independence vote would not hurt Spain’s rating

Police fired rubber bullets in Barcelona as they charged protesters who wanted to vote in the independence vote which was banned by Spain’s central government and the courts, witnesses told AFP.

Millo, however, said police officers were acting with “proportionality”.
He also said Catalonia’s regional police force had sought help from national police to block voting from happening at 233 polling stations.

“This is a gesture that honours them,” Millo said, just hours after he complained that Catalan regional police were not doing anything to prevent polling stations from opening.

Spain’s Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido also urged Catalan authorities “to stop this genuine madness”, adding that officers from the national force and the Guardia Civil had “neutralised” 70 polling stations.

Catalan independence referendum ‘not possible’ – Spanish PM

The Catalan government says it had prepared just over 2,300 polling stations for the vote. The Spanish government had said on Saturday that it had already sealed more than half of them.

Zoido also said the computer system which Catalan authorities say they have set up to prevent people from voting twice in the referendum “does not work”.

Officers from Spain’s Guardia Civil police force visited the Catalan government’s communications hub in Barcelona on Saturday, cutting its connections with polling stations and access to software that could have allowed an online vote.

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Source: Tribune News
Original Post: Spain urges Catalonia to end referendum ‘farce’

NEW DELHI: An Indian policeman has been arrested on suspicion of raping a seven-year-old girl, allegedly while he was drunk, a senior officer said Sunday.

Colleagues raised the alarm after finding the girl naked in the officer’s quarters in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh late on Saturday, local police superintendent Vipin Tada said.

“We sent her for a medical examination and are awaiting a final report,” he added.

“The policeman will be undergoing medical tests to confirm whether he was consuming alcohol inside his quarters.”

The Press Trust of India news agency said angry locals had tried to attack the local police post in protest. But Tada said the crowd was pacified when they learned the officer had been arrested.

India has a grim record of sexual assaults on minors, with 20,000 cases reported in 2015, according to government data.

It strengthened its laws on sexual violence after the fatal gang-rape of a Delhi student in 2012 caused global outrage, but attacks are still widespread.

The post Indian policeman arrested for raping 7-year-old girl appeared first on The Express Tribune.

Source: Tribune News
Original Post: Indian policeman arrested for raping 7-year-old girl