Protest in Catalonia Adds to Pressure Before Independence Vote<br />Jesús Ribera said that We’ve always shown respect, and we now hope<br />that we can convince others to respect our right to vote and become another normal European state,<br />"I can assure you that all the people here today will be standing in front of the polling stations on Oct. 1, even if they are kept closed<br />and Madrid also manages to seize the ballot papers and boxes." As the political clock ticks toward the Oct. 1 deadline for the referendum, the tension between Madrid and Barcelona is rising.<br />11, 2017<br />BARCELONA, Spain — Hundreds of thousands of Catalans took over the center of Barcelona on Monday to mark their national day<br />and raise the pressure on the Spanish government in Madrid before an independence referendum planned for Oct. 1.<br />Laura Solsona said that If we look after our own wealth rather than hand it over<br />to Madrid, I’m sure independence will also bring us better economic conditions,<br />A referendum, he argued, would not escalate the secessionist conflict because "the ballot boxes don’t divide, they unite." The demonstrators held a minute’s silence in honor of the victims of the terrorist attacks last month in Catalonia<br />that killed 16 people, most of them mowed down by a van driver on Barcelona’s most famous promenade.<br />Oriol said that Philip V repressed Catalonia, and three centuries later here we are, getting denied the right to vote in the Spain of Philip VI,
