Why hand the independence movement a public relations victory by using police to attack women, children and the elderly? "They knew a 'yes' vote in favor of independence was guaranteed because most 'no' voters weren't going to participate. So authorities sent in Spanish riot police, who had been brought in on ships for just such a possibility. "They increased the independence vote by sending the police in," said Nafees Hamid, a research fellow at Artis International who has written extensively about Catalonia. If the independence movement was trying to malign the image of the Madrid government, they accomplished that goal.

Source: Fox News October 02, 2017 19:18 UTC