Man accused of attacking police officer during referendum arrested

Spanish police on Wednesday arrested a man accused of attacking an officer on the day of the independence referendum in Tarragona, southern Catalonia. Police claim that on October 1, 2017, the man gave the officer a “heavy kick to the testicles” when he was allegedly “trying to speak to a gathering of people and show them the judge’s order” on the referendum outside the polling station.

According to the police, following the attack the supposed attacker fled “with the help of some of the people gathered there.” The police claim that there is footage of the events and that the officer needed medical assistance. The man arrested on Wednesday was released the next day but he is accused of “assault against authority” and causing injury. An investigation against him will continue.

The Tarragona School was one of the polling stations from which Spanish police managed to remove ballot boxes. Immediately afterwards, officers are reported to have charged voters in the Imperial Tàrraco square as they returned to their vehicles. On the day of the independence referendum, on October 1, 2017, police charged voters in a number of schools being used as polling stations across the country, leaving 1,066 people injured, according to the Catalan health department.