Catalan independence referendum: In the name of freedom

The Catalan independence referendum is the hot topic of discussion with every day bringing in different news about its aftermath Spains Constitutional Court has ordered the suspension of last weeks declaration of independence by the Catalan parliament Now Spanish prosecutors have sought jail for eight members of the deposed Catalan government But successful or otherwise independence referendums have always been used by citizens to decide if they want to break away from a country One of the earliest such referendums was in 1905 when Norway separated from Sweden Heres a look at some successful and not so successful independence referendumsIllustrationRavi JadhavCataloniaThe Catalan independence referendum of 2017 was held on 1 October 2017 in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia passed by the Parliament of Catalonia and called by the Generalitat de Catalunya It was declared illegal and suspended by the Constitutional Court of Spain after a request from the Spanish government who declared it a breach of the Spanish Constitution of 1978Demonstrators shout slogans while holding signs readingDemocracyandFreedom we want you back at homeduring a protest outside the Generalitat Palace in Barcelona on November 2 as members of the deposed Catalan government were being questioned in Madrid PicAFPThe Quebec referendumThe 1995 Quebec referendum was the second referendum to ask voters in Quebec whether it should proclaim national sovereignty and become an independent country with the condition precedent of offering a political and economic agreement to Canada 9352 of the 5087009 registered Quebecers voted in the referendum The proposal of June 12 1995 was rejected by voters with 5058 voting No and 4942 voting YesScottish Independence referendumA referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom took place on 18 September 2014 The question which voters answered with Yes or No was Should Scotland be an independent country The No side won with 2001926 553 voting against independence and 1617989 447 voting in favourNorthern IrelandIn 1973 the people of Northern Ireland were granted a referendum on whether they should remain part of the UK or join the Republic of Ireland The result was 989 in favour of union with the rest of the UK but the poll was overwhelmingly boycotted by nationalists and the turnout was therefore 587 The proUK vote did however represent 575 of the entire electorate notwithstanding the boycottThe Aus republic referendumThe Australian republic referendum held on 6 November 1999 was a twoquestion referendum to amend the Constitution of Australia The first question asked whether Australia should become a republic The second question asked whether Australia should alter the Constitution to insert a preamble Both propositions failed with none of the states recording an overall Yes voteSouth SudanA referendum took place in Southern Sudan from 9 to 15 January 2011 on whether the region should remain part of Sudan On 7 February 2011 the referendum commission published the final results with 9883 voting in favour of independence While the ballots were suspended in 10 of the 79 counties for exceeding 100 of voter turnout the number of votes were still well over the requirement of 60 turnout and the majority vote for secession was not in questionIraqi Kurdistan Independence referendumAn independence referendum for Iraqi Kurdistan was held on September 25 2017 with preliminary results showing approximately 93 percent of votes cast in favour of independence The referendums legality was rejected by the federal government of Iraq