With police brutality being on the forefront of many American political discussions, many Americans tend to overlook the fact that police brutality is happening all over the world, even in ‘free’ countries.

According to the New York Times, when Catalonian citizens attempted to vote in the referendum for independence from Spain, they were met with violence from the Spanish national police, called the Guardia Civil. The Guardia Civil responded by shooting citizens with rubber bullets, beating them with batons, shutting down polling stations, arresting voters, and creating barriers between the Catalonians and their independence.

“Citizens should always have the right to vote,” said Triton history teacher Dan Boyle. “Any repression of the vote is a bad idea.”

Similarly, senior Erika Siemasko said, “there should not be any restrictions on voting…everyone should be able to vote.”

In theory, Spain is a “free country.” Similar to England, Spain has a constitutional monarchy, which acts as more of a figurehead for the country, and a parliamentary democracy which constitutes the actual politics of Spain. Under this government, its citizens are supposed to have a say in the decisions made in their country.

“Spain’s problem at the moment…it’s a constitutional monarchy…the monarch isn’t willing to allow any part of his kingdom break away, so as much as it is a constitutional monarchy, parliament does not want to upset the King and let Catalonia break away,” said Boyle.

Catalonia, which has been autonomous, or self-governed to a certain extent, has been pushing for independence for years. It has its own culture, with a distinct dialect different than that of the rest of Spain, it also has different customs, and a completely different economy.

Catalonia, which contains the major city of Barcelona, is significantly more wealthy than the rest of Spain. For years it has felt like it has been carrying the financial weight for Spain.

For years, protesters have filled the streets of Catalonia carrying pro-independence signs and shouting “Catalonia is not Spain”.

The region made its first real move toward independence in 2015 when they elected pro-independence representatives to the Catalan section of Spain’s parliament. These representatives then drafted a referendum which was approved by the Catalan parliament with a 72-11 vote.

The vote for independence was held on October 1st, 2017 in which 90 percent of participants voted ‘yes’ when answering the ballot question “Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?”. The vote has since been declared unconstitutional given that Spain’s Constitution of 1978 states that Spain is “indivisible”.

According to The Independent, last week, the President of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont declared and then quickly suspended the declaration asking Spain for negotiations. Puigdemont has stated that he will hold a vote to officially declare independence if Spain refuses negotiations. In response to this, Spain has said that they are going to invoke article 155 of their Constitution, which will allow Spain to revoke autonomy from Catalonia and take full control of the region.

At this time, it is unclear how Catalonia is prepared to back up their call for independence.

If they were looking to back it up with weaponry, they would likely face a major block in the road. The Catalonian police, the ‘Mossos’ are actually under the control of the national government in Madrid, and while some of the Mossos have been standing with their people, they are employed and under the control of Madrid.

It remains to be seen whether or not the international committee will stand behind Catalonia or side with Spain.

“It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out in the end,” said Boyle.