Marta Torrecillas was filmed being violently removed from a school in Barcelona’s upmarket Eixample neighbourhood being used as one of the polling stations police acting on the orders of a judge cleared in scenes which have made headlines around the world.
Footage which was going viral today – 24 hours after the astonishing scenes at Paul Claris School – showed Miss Torrecillas being manhandled as she tried to walk past officers in full body armour inside the school.
Her dress was forced up around her thighs – leaving her exposed and humiliated – as she was dragged down stairs towards the exit.
In a WhatsApp recording to a friend called Laura, released afterwards to the Spanish press, Miss Torrecillas said: “I was defending elderly people with open arms.
“That’s all I was doing, defending elderly people because they hit children and the elderly.
“They got hold of me and threw me down the stairs and threw things at me.
“They broke my fingers deliberately, one by one.
“Halfway down the stairs, with my clothes up, they touched my breasts while they laughed and hit me.
“Tell them Laura, tell them what ’s they’re doing. I want everyone to know.
“They have broken the fingers on my hand one by one deliberately. That is real evil, real evil.”
Local reports said Miss Torrecillas received medical attention from emergency services at the scene but refused to go to hospital so she could vote.
She was later pictured with her arm in a sling and one of her hands heavily bandaged, explaining exactly what had happened to her.
The Catalan government said nearly 850 people had been injured during the violence yesterday, mostly at polling stations where people taking part in the referendum declared as illegal by Spain’s central government were casting votes.