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Article snippet: BARCELONA, Spain — At some point on Sunday afternoon, as riot police officers forced their way into polling places all over the city, the Moisès Broggi high school in Barcelona became a fortress. The volunteers overseeing the school’s defense ranged in age from 13 to 17, and represented a number of adolescent tribes, among them hippies, punks and a subset of girls with long, dark hair who called themselves “the smokers.” The older boys wrapped their bicycle locks around the front gate, and braced it with a barricade of wooden benches. They assessed the front door: a narrow space, easy to defend. If the police forced their way in, they would find themselves in a sort of cage, surrounded on all sides. Two hours and three minutes remained until the polls closed, at 8 p.m. Some 2,500 completed ballots were inside, in six sealed ballot boxes. Romain Flarion, 17, scanned the street for police convoys — vehicles with blacked-out windows had passed by slowly — and rolled a cigarette, looking a little sheepish. “Inside, I’m dying with fear,” he said. “I think we all are.” They had all expected confrontation on Sunday, but nothing like the violence that unfolded. National forces in riot gear began charging into schools as soon as the polls opened, clearing crowds with truncheons and rubber bullets. At least 750 people were injured, Catalan officials said; Spain said dozens of its officers were hurt. All day, at the Institut Moisès Broggi, an arts and technology magnet scho... Link to the full article to read more