While S&P futures were modestly higher, rising 0.1% in a quiet session in which China, South Korea, India and Hong Kong were closed for holidays, the Euro, Spanish stocks and bonds were broadly lower as Spain faces its worst constitutional crisis in years following a dramatic, violent crackdown on Sunday's Catalan independence referendum in which 89% of the voters wanted to secede from Spain.
Authored by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,
I’ve seen a lot of videos and photos of the Catalonia attempt to hold a referendum today (Tyler has a “nice” series of them), and what struck me most of all, apart from the senseless violence police forces were seen to engage in, is the lack of violence on the side of protesters.
Though the results of today's referendum have yet to be announced, separatists in Catalonia are urging the government to declare independence from Spain, citing today's violent crackdown as the reason. In a rousing speech following the close of voting, Carles Puigdemont, the leader of the Catalan government, said his citizens have earned the right to form an independent state and that the results of the referendum, to be announced shortly, will be sent to the local parliament for ratification.
Update: With the injury count now at 761, according to El Mundo, here are the headlines from Rajoy's address as he bagen: Catalonia's unauthorized independence referendum "is a mockery of the very essence of democracy," Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says.
Speaking from the Palace of Moncloa, his official residence in Madrid, Rajoy said "there has been no referendum of self-determination in Catalonia today".
We noted yesterday that "if Catalonia secedes from Spain...in terms of the debt sustainability parameters laid down by the Treaty of Maastricht, it’d be the Eurozone debt crisis 2.0..." and it is clear by the thuggish brutality of Spain's police that Rajoy will do anything to ensure this vote does not go ahead as the latest poll data shows a massive surge in favor of independence, as government fascism has clearly triggered unintended consequences that look set to spirtal out of control.