BARCELONA, Spain, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- It wasn't an official secession vote, but the results of Catalonia's independence straw poll taken Sunday sent a clear message to the central government in Madrid: Catalonia is not Spain.
"We have earned the right to a referendum," declared Catalan leader Artur Mas after the votes were counted.
"Once again Catalonia has shown that it wants to rule itself. I ask the people in the world, I ask the media and I also ask the democratic governments in the world to help the Catalan people decide its political future."
Spain's central government twice attempted to shut down Sunday's polling, first banning the region from holding an actual secession vote, then unsuccessfully attempting to ban the opinion tally.
"The government considers this to be a day of political propaganda organised by pro-independence forces and devoid of any kind of democratic validity," Spanish Justice Minister Rafael Catala said in a statement, accusing the straw poll of being "a sterile and useless sham."
"The only thing they haven't done is bring in the tanks," former People's Party politician Carles Palomare told the Guardian. Like 10 percent of voters in Catalonia, Palomare wants the region to establish itself as an autonomous state that is still part of Spain.
"I feel Spanish. I want a united Spain, a federal Spain. But every day that Rajoy says no, there are 100 or 1,000 more separatists. They're creating separatism in Catalonia."
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