People protest as police try to control the area in their attempt to cast their ballot at a polling station in the referendum vote on October 1, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. NurPhoto/Press Association. All rights reserved.There may be disagreement about whether what happened yesterday in Catalonia was a referendum of self-determination. The Catalonian president, Carles Puigdemont, has declared that yesterday’s events has given Catalonia “the right to have an independent State”, while the Spanish government has congratulated itself for avoiding any resemblance to a lawful plebiscite. Choosing the middle ground between these two sides, the Spanish left has defined it as a legitimate form of political expression with no legal implications, and has heavily criticized the violence from Spanish policemen against peaceful protesters.
Regardless of the term used to categorize yesterday’s events, the scenes of police brutality against peaceful crowds shocked Catalonian and Spanish societies, as they did the rest of the world. Both Spanish and Catalonian governments have contributed significantly to the escalation of the confrontation. The Spanish government and, notably, the Christian-Democratic party, have not budged from the defence of the status quo and have only proposed a de-politicized solution to the ‘Catalonian issue’, via an arguably partisan use of the legal system.
On the other hand, the Catalonian government, and especially the main governing party, have used nationalism politically to cover up a number of internal scandals. According to the Catalonian public polling agency, only 15% of Catalonians wanted independence in 2008. But during the last regional elections, 47.8% of them voted for parties that promised a disconnect from the Spanish State.
