World AM News Briefs For Monday, 2 October 2017

Good Morning Australia!! - Spain's gruesome and bloody crackdown on Barcelona - Trump pulls the rug out from under his own peacemaking Secretary of State - Tons of video links of a the moment a stage prop injured Marilyn Manson - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

Spanish national police attacked people trying to vote in the Catalan Independence Referendum, with local officials counting at least 844 suffering injuries from militarized cops using rubber bullets, clubs, and other weapons.  Here now, the bravery of riot cops taking on little old ladies:


Rather than just rest on the court decisions that had already declared the ballot illegal, and therefore unenforceable, conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy ordered police to attack his own people, telling his battered citizens that the referendum a "path that leads to nowhere" and claiming "we did what we had to do". 

The Spanish government also pulled a full-Orwell, calling the police attack "proportionate" - keep in mind that twelve cops were hurt, versus hundreds and hundreds of civilians.

In some areas, local Barcelona and Catalan police tried to defend the voters, and stood in between Rajoy's forces and the people.  In Barcelona, firefighters also stood in between national police and the peaceful, unarmed voters, and they were viciously assaulted for their troubles. 

Despite this, three million people managed to vote in the poll and the ballot are being counted in secret locations to keep them away from Rajoy.

European leaders were careful to balance their comments, condemning Rajoy's bloody violence while making clear they do not support seperatism.  Belgium prime minister Charles Michel said, "Violence can never be the answer! We condemn all forms of violence and reaffirm our call for political dialogue."  EU parliament Brexit chief Guy Verhofstadt echoed that, "I don't want to interfere in the domestic issues of Spain but I absolutely condemn what happened today in Catalonia."  Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon condemned the UK Foreign Office's "shamefully weak" statement on the Spanish police violence in Catalonia: "A true friend of Spain would tell them today's actions wrong and damaging."  And UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said, "Police violence against citizens in Catalonia is shocking.  The Spanish government must act to end it now."

Anyway..

Cameroon troops shot and killed at least seven people taking part in protests in English-speaking regions regions seeking independence from the French-speaking majority.

And...

Donald Trump again undercut - and actually seemed to taunt - his own Secretary of State on North Korea.  On Sunday morning, the orange clown tweeted:  "I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man," referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, "Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!"  Secretary Tillerson had earlier said he had a direct line of communication with Pyongyang and was trying to "calm things down" following months of escalating rhetoric over Pyongyang's continued nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests. 

Witnesses said an assailant with a knife screamed "Allahu Akbar!" as he stabbed two young women to death in the train station in Marseilles, France.  Police shot and killed the attacker.

Canadian police arrested a 30-year old man for ramming a vehicle into a police officer in Edmonton, Alberta and stabbing the man, and later driving another vehicle into a crowd, injuring four more people.  Cops found the flag of the so-called Islamic State in the second car.  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called it a "terrorist attack".

Colombia's last armed Leftist group began its first truce in a half a century.  The ELN will refrain from attacks at least through January, while talks with the goverment continue in Ecuador.  The FARC already came in from the jungle, handed in its weapons, and joined the political process.

Singer Marilyn Manson is recovering in hospital after a giant stage prop fell on him, ending a show in New York City.  During his performance of the Eurythmic's "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" he climbed a scaffold holding two giant fake handguns, which fell over on him.  Since everyone has a mobile phone with a video, this was recorded by at least half the audience.  The music stopped, roadies quickly removed the prop, and Manson was taken to hospital.  And now, a photo of a celebrity on a stetcher:

Although the exact nature of Manson's injuries were not disclosed, the band's guitarist Tyler Bates said on social media that the tour is on hold but that Manson would be "back in action soon". 

On Sunday, the day that legal Gay Marriage went into force throughout Germany, Karl Kreile and Bodo Mende were the nation's first same sex couple to get married in a Berlin town hall.  The couple has been together for 38 years.  Germany started registering same-sex partnerships in 2001, but the new law gives gay couples the same tax advantages and adoption rights as heterosexual couples.  You know, like normal countries do.