TO LOSE AN EYE
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1:29 - 1:32"[...] as soon as some group starts uncontrolled violent actions,
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1:32 - 1:35police units don't even move and when violence is becoming
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1:35 - 1:38widespread, law enforcement is deliberately delayed
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1:38 - 1:43until damage are socially unacceptable.
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1:43 - 1:45It's then when police charges take place,
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1:45 - 1:49not wanting to be a deterrent, no need to conceal.
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1:49 - 1:50It's headed directly against the protesters, who are already considered
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1:50 - 1:52vandals, and that are attacked fast enough for not giving protesters time
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1:52 - 1:57to scape and forcing physical confrontation.
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1:57 - 2:00[...] Innocent victims begin to appear -collateral damage is said now-.
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2:00 - 2:04Those who have avoided confrontation, are now with the rest
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2:05 - 2:07of police units that will close off their way
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2:07 - 2:09and that will not make detainees -prisoners-, the dispersion is not voluntary,
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2:10 - 2:14it is forced with the defenses (batons) and any hint of resistance
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2:15 - 2:19is answered with exaggerated force and mass arrests"
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2:19 - 2:22In the ancient battles, it was then when cavalry was sent
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2:22 - 2:25pursuing those who scaped while the infantry annihilated
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2:26 - 2:28those who had surrendered in the battlefield."
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2:29 - 2:31Extracted from "How to end with crusties" Author: David Pique, head of riot police of the Catalan police
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2:31 - 2:36I'm a peaceful person
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2:40 - 2:41I'm not very brave
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2:42 - 2:45I would have never been in a place
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2:45 - 2:48where I see people
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2:51 - 2:53that is provoking, and then I could be hitten, at the end.
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2:53 - 2:56There was people in that part
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2:56 - 3:01of Paseo de Gracia, by Gran VĂa,
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3:01 - 3:07but people was there just about to leave home
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3:07 - 3:09untill we got surrounded by the mossos (catalan police)
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3:09 - 3:13and of course the people started running
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3:13 - 3:17because... by the way they were behaving
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3:17 - 3:21they were not saying "stay" but "get out of here"
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3:21 - 3:24that's what they wanted, that we got away,
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3:25 - 3:29that we ran. It was closed down the avenue
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3:29 - 3:35we could see people running from Plaça Catalunya
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3:35 - 3:40we tried to go up the avenue, it was blocked too,
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3:41 - 3:44police vans came and closed Gran Via
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3:46 - 3:49At this point, everybody started running
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3:51 - 3:57towards Diagonal, crossing Passeig de Gracia
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3:59 - 4:01because there was no other place to go,
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4:01 - 4:04towards Caspe street,
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4:04 - 4:08and so did I. I went along
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4:08 - 4:12with 5 or 6 friends of mine
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4:12 - 4:16and each of them took a different direction,
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4:19 - 4:21I was there with LluĂs and I remember
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4:21 - 4:24crossing Passeig de Gracia
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4:24 - 4:28and I turned round trying not to get lost,
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4:28 - 4:31and I saw that
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4:31 - 4:34vans and policemen where there.
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4:34 - 4:40And it was then when I noticed the impact in my face,
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4:42 - 4:47very painful, well, unspeakable.
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4:47 - 4:51I thought "it's not possible, it's not possible"
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4:51 - 4:54Immediately i said "Lluis, I've been hitten, I've been hitten",
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4:54 - 4:59I put my hand in my face
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4:59 - 5:02and, well, and that's it, no...
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5:02 - 5:05He looked at me shouting
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5:05 - 5:09and I told him "I've no eye, I've no eye"
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5:09 - 5:12and he told me "yes" and well...
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5:12 - 5:16That was the first moment I knew that
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5:18 - 5:21the impact had been very hard.
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5:22 - 5:26It did hurt
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5:26 - 5:29not in an specific point, it was all the left half on my face that hurt
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5:29 - 5:33I was saying "ambulance please, ambulance, ice, ice,
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5:33 - 5:37someone give me some ice, someone called an ambulace",
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5:37 - 5:41I didn't even thought about calling an ambulance with my cell phone
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5:41 - 5:45they sat me in a corner, on the floor.
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5:45 - 5:45Suddenly, we were there for a while, and suddenly a local police showed up.
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5:45 - 5:50The local policeman asked me what happened to me
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5:52 - 5:55and I showed him, I uncovered my eye
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5:56 - 5:59and I showed him. He asked me if it hurted,
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6:00 - 6:02"yes I told him and he gave me more
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6:05 - 6:12paper handkerchiefs, he took out some
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6:13 - 6:18paper handkerchiefs and he gave some clean ones.
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6:18 - 6:19After a while, I know he was there calling the ambulance
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6:20 - 6:25the ambulance wouldn't come, they said they were not allowed to get to the area
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6:28 - 6:31and the people there was screaming,
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6:33 - 6:36"Help ambulance, make an ambulance come!",
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6:36 - 6:43some friends of mine went to look for some, to see if they could find some
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6:43 - 6:45ice, and the the local policemen
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6:46 - 6:49told me "Come with me, come with me"
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6:49 - 6:52and he took me to his car conmigo
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6:53 - 6:58and he sat me on the drives seat
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6:59 - 7:05we were there, he was calling the ambulance again and again
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7:06 - 7:12and the ambulance said that they were not allowed to get into the area
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7:13 - 7:20they asked if I was conscieous
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7:21 - 7:26and then I even said "Tell them I'm not concious, tell them to come now"
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7:26 - 7:31and then I started to get dizzy inside his car
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7:31 - 7:37and I told them "I'm getting dizzy, I'm getting dizzy"
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7:39 - 7:46The next day, I woke up
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7:47 - 7:53in the box, and my family was there
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7:53 - 7:57and, well, I had my eye covered
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7:57 - 8:00They had rebuilt my eyeball
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8:01 - 8:06and all this part of the eye.
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8:07 - 8:09All the bones around here
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8:09 - 8:14all this around here is broken, the chickbone
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8:14 - 8:18and untill here, a bone that I don't even know the name of
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8:19 - 8:27my optical nerve is cut off
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8:28 - 8:32and they told me that they should make a second intervention
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8:33 - 8:40in order to put a plate and that they still had to assess when the inflammation got better
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8:41 - 8:50but they still had to assess what will they do, they were not sure.
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8:51 - 9:03The first thing they told me was that I had lost my vision
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9:04 - 9:11and that I will never recover that vision
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9:12 - 9:19This nerve that has been cut off makes that I have no sensibility in all this part
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9:20 - 9:29I still cannot eat well, I can't chew on this side
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9:31 - 9:36I cannot even yawn, when I yawn it hurts,
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9:39 - 9:45I can only eat on this side
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9:46 - 9:57Well, I had all this inflamed
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9:58 - 10:00But I had the hope that
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10:00 - 10:03even if I couldn't see, I could keep my eye
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10:03 - 10:06and keep going.
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10:06 - 10:11But he told me that the eye and the vision, I wouldn't recover them
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10:11 - 10:15That the eye should be removed and they had to implant a prothesis
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10:15 - 10:17They didn't offer any kind of psychological aid, even though I asked for it
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10:17 - 10:20I insisted on that but it hasn't been provided to me.
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10:20 - 10:24I don't know if they dont have it or if my case doesn't fit in any pathology that should have psycological aid.
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10:24 - 10:28But this that has happened to me is very hard, I don't wish this to anyone
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10:28 - 10:32What you dont wish for yourself, don't do it to the others, that's my philosophy
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10:32 - 10:36But it has happened to me, and well, here we are.
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10:36 - 10:38This happened the night of the 14th of november
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10:38 - 10:40and monday 19th I got the first visit of the ophthalmologist at 10am
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10:40 - 10:45the ophthalmological protocol said that if you are not being medicated intravenously you have to go home
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10:45 - 10:48I told them that I wasn't
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10:48 - 10:52strong enough to go away
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10:52 - 10:56to go home, that my parent are old, my mother is
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10:56 - 11:0072 years old and my father 86 and I live with them
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11:00 - 11:03and it's them who have to take care of me.
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11:03 - 11:07They told me I colud go to the outpatiens clinic
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11:07 - 11:08and having the cures done
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11:08 - 11:11but they are each 8 hours. And I told them that
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11:11 - 11:15it was impossible to go 3 tomes per day to the outpatiens clinic
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11:15 - 11:22to make this cures
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11:22 - 11:23Then they insisted that my mother will do it very well
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11:23 - 11:26and she would cure me
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11:26 - 11:29and yes, my mother can do it very well
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11:30 - 11:33but she is not the right person to do it, right?
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11:33 - 11:35Besides all this happened to a daughter of her
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11:35 - 11:40it's she who has to
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11:41 - 11:45make me this cures. No one from the administration
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11:45 - 11:49has shown any interest for my case
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11:49 - 11:51or even text me
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11:51 - 11:55not an a-mail, not a call
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11:57 - 12:02no one has appeard there
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12:03 - 12:09in the hospital showing interest for my state of health
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12:09 - 12:12to see how I am, what happened to me, where was I or
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12:12 - 12:15who was I with or whatever
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12:15 - 12:19I don't know if this is the normal procedure
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12:19 - 12:24but I think that it's not
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12:24 - 12:27humanitarian.
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12:27 - 12:32My family need a lot of,
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12:32 - 12:36and myself, we need a lot
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12:39 - 12:43a lot of support and the truth is that
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12:44 - 12:48someone in the administration that had held responsability
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12:50 - 12:57in behalf of this security state forces that
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12:57 - 13:00were there and say that they didn't charge,
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13:00 - 13:02but they did charge, I saw it
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13:02 - 13:07and I'm the proof of what they did.
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13:07 - 13:10When I got out of the hospital I've seen images,
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13:11 - 13:14videos in which
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13:15 - 13:21Mr Felip Puig (catalan security responsible)
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13:22 - 13:28said there was no police charge in that area
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13:28 - 13:31and that no rubber bullets or projectile had been shot.
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13:31 - 13:35I don't know what hit me, but I do know
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13:36 - 13:39that it was a mosso d'esquadra (catalan police)
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13:39 - 13:44and it was a projectile, I don't know what kind, but it was a projectile
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13:44 - 13:47If he didn't give the order
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13:47 - 13:51being above all the others, who gave it?
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13:51 - 13:54I saw it, why does he say there were no police charges?
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13:54 - 13:56Maybe he could explain that to me,
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13:56 - 14:00look at me and explain me that there was
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14:00 - 14:03no police and that they didn't charge. I saw them
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14:03 - 14:07there live, this has happened to me
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14:07 - 14:09and I've seen them on TV afterwards.
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14:09 - 14:13This state of repression and violence takes us nowhere
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14:13 - 14:16I have even listened some statements
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14:16 - 14:18of Mr Mas (catalan president)
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14:18 - 14:22justifying this repression
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14:22 - 14:26The only thing I say, is that
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14:26 - 14:29the one that has done this
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14:29 - 14:32if he has sons and this happened to
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14:32 - 14:35one of his sons, he should put his hand inside his chest and see if it hurts
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14:36 - 14:38or not. The have to think
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14:38 - 14:44that they carry weapons,
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14:44 - 14:47but that also their sons could have been in that demonstration.
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14:47 - 14:52Because sometimes the sons
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14:52 - 14:55also hurt enormously.
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14:55 - 14:58Depending on what parent, maybe there are father who don't feel pain
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14:58 - 15:02but to me my sons hurt enormously,
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15:02 - 15:08enormously.
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15:10 - 15:13They cannot do whatever they wish to them
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15:13 - 15:17some boys were going to catch the metro
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15:23 - 15:25they were not allowed and police started beating them
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15:25 - 15:28It's not fair, it's not fair
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15:28 - 15:33let them put their hand in their chest
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15:33 - 15:37and see what they find.
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15:38 - 15:43Because they've reuined our lives, we were
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15:44 - 15:49a humble family, a very united family. I've got 4 children,
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15:49 - 15:52all of them get on very well with each other
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15:52 - 15:56and they will never be able to say that we've been in any trouble
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15:56 - 15:59we've fulfilled our obligations
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16:00 - 16:05If we had to pay we have paid, no one can say
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16:06 - 16:09anything, in the neighbourhoor, no injustice, anything.
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16:09 - 16:13I don't know why they have to do those things to a humble family.
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16:13 - 16:16I don't know, no, I don't know
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16:16 - 16:20They have ruined our lives
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16:21 - 16:23My labour situation has forced me
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16:25 - 16:29to leave my flat
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16:29 - 16:36where I lived since 17 years ago in la Verneda (Barcelona)
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16:37 - 16:39and to come to live with my parents.
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16:39 - 16:41Beacause untill 2 or 3 months
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16:41 - 16:45I won't be able to pay the rent, or food or anything.
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16:45 - 16:50My parents have welcomed me in their house
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16:50 - 16:53fortunately they have a house
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16:53 - 16:56and they love me and I can stay with them
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16:56 - 16:58When you a re self-employed there's no unemplyment benefit,
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16:58 - 17:00you have no kind of unemplyment benefit
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17:00 - 17:01According to the State I'm a person
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17:01 - 17:03with no dependents because I'm not married,
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17:03 - 17:07I havent any elderly in my charge, I've got no sons.
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17:07 - 17:12I'm not a single mother
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17:12 - 17:15I haven't got any episode of gender violence,
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17:15 - 17:17the National Unemplyment Office doesn't consider my situation in any of it's cases
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17:17 - 17:24to give me any kind of benefit or aid,
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17:24 - 17:27when I've been paying my contributions since
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17:27 - 17:28more or less 22 years ago
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17:28 - 17:32that I've been working continously
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17:32 - 17:36as an employee
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17:36 - 17:38or self employed or getting some jobs
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17:39 - 17:44what I've been able to do.
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17:45 - 17:47Now that I'm unemployed
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17:47 - 17:49and I dont' pay contributions
y no computo -
17:49 - 17:54as a person who works and that lose its job
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17:54 - 17:58and that lose its wage
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17:58 - 18:03going to this strike, but I thought it was important
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18:03 - 18:06because with all the budget cuts
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18:08 - 18:11and all changes that are taking place
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18:14 - 18:18in housing, healthcare, education, kindergardens,
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18:20 - 18:25everything, everything is going wrong.
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18:27 - 18:31So that, that
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18:31 - 18:34we are the obe who have to go to the streets
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18:34 - 18:39to say that we do not agree with all of these, isn't it?
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18:39 - 18:40I will not stop going to demos for this that had happened to me.
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18:40 - 18:43Maybe, I'll take my time.
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18:43 - 18:47because I have yet to recover from this
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18:47 - 18:51and I will go to protests and I hope everyone:
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18:52 - 18:57my friends and family will do the same.
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18:57 - 19:02Because a single one has no power
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19:02 - 19:06but many of us we do have strength.
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Not Synced-that I even don't know what the grises are-, well...
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Not SyncedEveryone tells me that neither the grises (francoist policemen)
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Not SyncedFear is what they would like to impose us, isn't it?, with all this repression.
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Not SyncedI don't know but..
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Not SyncedI know but I haven't lived it,
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Not SyncedMaybe they didn't have those weapons.
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Not SyncedSo people musn't be afraid
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Not SyncedWe don't stop this, what will be the next step?
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Not SyncedWhat will they do to us? How will they stop us
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Not Syncedbecause with fear nothing is achieved.
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Not Syncedof going to a peaceful and legal demonstration?
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Not Syncedwe have to keep on going to demos.
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Not Syncedwere so repressive.
- Title:
- TO LOSE AN EYE
- Description:
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Ester Quintana, aged 42, lost an eye by the impact of a projectile fired by the catalan police Mossos d'Esquadra on 14N general strike. Her version directly contradicted the Regional Minister for the Interior, Felip Puig.
ATTENTION, YOUR COLLABORATION IS IMPORTANT TO ESTER:
If you were in Paseo de Gracia in the area between Gran Via and Catalunya Square (C/Casp), on November 14th between 20:30 am and 21:00 pm, or if you had seen anything from your window or balcony, please contact immediately with the family and friends of Esther Quintana via mail: animsester@gmail.com. Thank you. - Video Language:
- Catalan
- Duration:
- 19:16
mvaquer.uoc edited English subtitles for PERDRE UN ULL / PERDER UN OJO | ||
mvaquer.uoc edited English subtitles for PERDRE UN ULL / PERDER UN OJO | ||
mvaquer.uoc edited English subtitles for PERDRE UN ULL / PERDER UN OJO | ||
mvaquer.uoc edited English subtitles for PERDRE UN ULL / PERDER UN OJO | ||
mvaquer.uoc edited English subtitles for PERDRE UN ULL / PERDER UN OJO | ||
mvaquer.uoc edited English subtitles for PERDRE UN ULL / PERDER UN OJO | ||
mvaquer.uoc edited English subtitles for PERDRE UN ULL / PERDER UN OJO | ||
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