Catalan has won right to statehood, says pro-independence leader

Catalan leaders reported Monday, after a stormy referendum banned by Spain and violently disrupted by Spanish police, that 90 percent of the two and-a-quarter million who voted Sunday had backed independence. The turnout was 42.3 percent. Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said the Spanish region had won the right to statehood following the contentious referendum and the door was open for a unilateral declaration of independence and formation of a republic. He said that the province would complain to European Union courts against police violence in which hundreds wee injured and called Sunday a day of shame for Spain. The Spanish government countered that the referendum was illegal after being banned by the Spain’s constitutional court.

Observers note that the results have not been verified by independent monitors. While the organizers claim that 884 people were treated in hospital for injuries caused in clashes with the police, the hospitals of the Barcelona region counted no more than 98 admissions.