"For teacher Elisa Aroca, Sunday was the moment Spain lost the battle for the hearts and minds of 7.5 million people living in the Catalonia region.
Aroca intended to defend her Spanish roots and cast a ballot against Catalonia breaking away from the rest of the country. But when a squad of police in riot gear marched up, roughly tossed her and other voters aside and shattered the glass entrance of the Estel School in central Barcelona to confiscate ballot boxes, she felt something break inside her.
"I felt so angry and hurt inside that I thought, 'A country that hits me wants me to stay? You don't listen to me and on top of it you hit me?' For me that is abuse," she said a day later.
Similar indignation swept across the wealthy northeastern region, one of 17 in Spain, as police stormed through packs of voters and peaceful protesters at polling stations."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/spains-crackdown-catalan-voters-spawns-separatists-131822439.html
Aroca intended to defend her Spanish roots and cast a ballot against Catalonia breaking away from the rest of the country. But when a squad of police in riot gear marched up, roughly tossed her and other voters aside and shattered the glass entrance of the Estel School in central Barcelona to confiscate ballot boxes, she felt something break inside her.
"I felt so angry and hurt inside that I thought, 'A country that hits me wants me to stay? You don't listen to me and on top of it you hit me?' For me that is abuse," she said a day later.
Similar indignation swept across the wealthy northeastern region, one of 17 in Spain, as police stormed through packs of voters and peaceful protesters at polling stations."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/spains-crackdown-catalan-voters-spawns-separatists-131822439.html