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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 4 OctOber 2017
Catalans stop work to protest police force during referendum

part in scattered protests in Spain’s national parties on toward the injured.”
the morning. grounds that it was illegal The strike affected bus and
With protesters still in the and lacked basic guaran- subway services, shops,
streets, Spain’s King Felipe tees, such as transparency, schools and other business-
VI made a television ap- a proper census or an inde- es, and disoriented tourists
pearance in the evening pendent electoral govern- scrambled to find open
and accused authorities in ing body. cafeterias to avoid the pro-
Catalonia of deliberately The king’s call for unity tests.
bending the law and un- and the blame put on the There were moments of
dermining coexistence, Catalan authorities was tension when a handful of
adding that the Spanish interpreted as laying the picketers forced the clo-
state has a duty to ensure ground for an upcoming sure of shops that had re-
unity and constitutional or- response from Rajoy. The mained open in the city’s
der in the country. prime minister held talks famed Las Ramblas bou-
“Today, Catalan society is on Tuesday with national levard, but elsewhere the
Demonstrators with “estelada”, or Catalonia independent flag, fractured,” Felipe said in his opposition leaders, but no demonstrations were large-
gather in protest in front of the Spanish police station in Barce- address to the nation, refer- multi-partisan consensus ly peaceful.
lona, Spain, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017. Labor unions and grassroots ring to the political crisis as emerged from meetings. Separatist groups and
pro-independence groups are urging workers to hold partial “very serious moments for “He made no mention of unions had initially called
or full-day strikes and demonstrations throughout Catalonia to
protest alleged brutality by police during a referendum on the our democratic life.” dialogue, and that’s wor- for strikes to be held in sup-
region’s secession from Spain that left hundreds of people in- Catalan officials say that rying,” said Victor Lavag- port of Catalan leaders
jured. 90 percent of the 2.3 mil- nini, a sports journalist who pushing ahead with the in-
(AP Photo/Francisco Seco) lion people who voted Sun- joined protests at the gates dependence declaration.
By ARITZ PARRA clare independence in the day were in favor of inde- of the National Police But many non-separatists
CIARAN GILES northeastern region this pendence. But fewer than headquarters in downtown were also drawn to the
Associated Press week following Sunday’s half of those eligible to Barcelona. “He seemed streets following Sunday’s
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — disputed referendum. vote turned out. The vote nervous, like everybody is, crackdown on the referen-
Striking workers, students The central government was boycotted by most of but showed no sensibility dum vote.q
and hundreds of thou- has declared the vote ille-
sands of protesters took to gal and invalid, but Prime
the streets of Barcelona Minister Mariano Rajoy
and other Catalan towns has not disclosed what his
Tuesday to protest police response to the indepen-
violence, adding pressure dence bid will be, or if he
to Spain’s unprecedented intends to go as far as sus-
political crisis as central pending the region’s self-
authorities mull how to re- government.
spond to separatists’ plans The city’s urban guard
to push ahead with seces- said that 700,000 people
sion. joined Tuesday afternoon’s
Separatist leaders in Cata- marches in Barcelona, af-
lonia have vowed to de- ter thousands more took
Dutch defense minister quits

over artillery training deaths

By MIKE CORDER cized the defense ministry
Associated Press for “serious shortcomings”
THE HAGUE, Netherlands in its care for troops sent on
(AP) — a peacekeeping mission in
The Netherlands’ defense the African nation.
minister and the country’s “I have put my heart and
military chief both resigned soul into serving in the de-
Tuesday night following a fense ministry,” she told
critical report into a 2016 lawmakers. “But it stops
artillery training accident here, today.
that killed 2 peacekeep- ”Hennis-Plasschaert, who
ing troops and wounded a served as minister for five
third.Jeanine Hennis-Plass- years, told lawmakers that
chaert, who has been a Defense Chief Gen. Tom
caretaker minister since na- Middendorp also was re-
tional elections in March, signing. He had been due
had been under pressure to leave his post later this
since the publication last week anyway, but a cer-
week of the independent emony to mark that will
Dutch Safety Board report no longer take place.The
into the accident in Mali. report said that the two
Cutting short, at least for soldiers were killed instant-
now, what many had seen ly when a mortar shell ex-
as a promising political ca- ploded prematurely during
reer, she announced her a training exercise near a
resignation in Parliament Dutch military base in Kidal,
following a long debate Mali. The other man was in-
into the report, which criti- jured by shrapnel.q