Julian Assange has urged the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, to ‘respect human dignity, freedom and democracy’ in Catalonia by suspending Spain from the EU.
The WikiLeaks founder says that Spain is violating the union’s values with its violent clampdown to prevent the independence vote in Catalonia.
In a tweet to Juncker, Assange included footage of Spanish law enforcement agents forcibly dragging voters out of a polling station and knocking people off the steps at the entrance.
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Dear @JunckerEU. Is this “respect for human dignity, freedom and democracy”? Activate article 7 and suspend Spain from the European Union for its clear violation of Article 2.
Art 7: https://t.co/1Dr7yCRHOH
Art 2: https://t.co/flpyclfchz pic.twitter.com/n0Ka72a2Am
— Julian Assange 🔹 (@JulianAssange) October 1, 2017
RT reports: Article 2 describes values on which the Union was founded and are common to all its member states, with respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, as well as the rights of minorities, among them. Under Article 7, a state breaching these values can be deprived of certain rights, such as voting rights in the European Council.
The same video has been shared by Jordi Cuixart, head of the Omnium cultural center, which promotes Catalan language and culture. Cuixart also referred to article 7, appealing to the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to note the part about “suspension of a member state which uses the military against the population.”
“Is it a proportionality @marianorajoy?” Cuixart tweeted.
In September, Rajoy said the central government was set to respond to the Catalan plebiscite “with reason, moderation and proportionality,” with the head of the region’s police Josep Lluis Trapero later voicing similar assurances.
The Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has already hit out at authorities in Madrid for using “unjustified, disproportionate and irresponsible” violence, as Catalans thronged to the polling centers across the region despite thousands of police officers trying to prevent the referendum, declared illegal by Spanish courts.
In some places security forces have burst into polling centers, even chopping their way through with axes, in an effort to seize voting materials, with voters blocking the entrances and staging sit-in protests.
Spain’s National Police brutalize voters in Catalonia polling center (a school) today in an attempt to suppress #CatalanReferendum vote. pic.twitter.com/jh4xA8u8Bb
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 1, 2017
Niamh Harris