Spain police operation against Catalan referendum cost €87M

The police operation deployed by the Spanish government in Catalonia to stop the October 1 independence referendum cost €87M and involved up to 6,000 officers, according to the Spanish Home Affairs minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido.  

On Thursday, Zoido appeared before the Spanish Senate to account for the police charges on referendum day, which reportedly left 1,066 people injured, according to Catalan government figures. Zoido said the use of force was “minimal and proportionate.”

In the Spanish chapter of the 2018 world review, Human Rights Watch (HRW) concluded that “the vote was marred by excessive use of force by Civil Guard and national police officers”.