Catalans got it wrong

I HAVE lived in Spain for many years and can paint a different picture of the Catalan independence referendum.

In 1978, following the death of Franco three years earlier, the Spanish constitution was passed by more than 80 per cent of the voters with the surprising detail that 92 per cent of Catalans accepted it.

The Spanish transition was considered exemplary throughout the world, showing the means to pass from a dictatorship to a full democracy in a peaceful manner.

In this constitution, there is a provision that any region that wishes to be independent from the rest of Spain can do so, if approved by the majority of all Spanish citizens of voting age in a referendum called expressly to decide this matter.

The regional Catalan government, with complete disregard for this provision, called a referendum in which only the Catalans could vote.

At the beginning of last month, the Constitutional Court declared this referendum to be illegal because it would be a violation of the constitution. But the regional Catalan government decided to go ahead with last Sunday’s vote anyway.

Security forces were sent to centres where voting was supposed to, illegally, take place to ensure they remained closed. Catalan activists carried out planned acts of provocation against the security forces, who had to defend themselves against this aggression.

It is paradoxical and absurd to say the Catalans were carrying out a democratic exercise as the first rule in a democracy is to respect the laws in force. The Prime Minister of Spain, Mariano Rajoy, was simply upholding the constitution. HEATHER RANDALL,

Marbella, Malaga. THE ‘ referendum’ that took place was far from worthy of that description.

In the run-up, Mariano Rajoy and his Right- of- Centre PP party ensured, through rushed court actions and the physical requisition of ballot boxes and papers, that the vote lacked any legal basis.

Neither was there any sort of campaign for the ‘No’ vote, with the large number of supporters of Catalonia remaining as part of Spain simply staying at home. The ‘referendum’ was effectively annulled days before any votes were cast. Nevertheless, in my village just north of Barcelona, people turned out in their thousands. Across Catalonia they turned out in their millions.

The vast majority knew there was little possibility their vote would lead to independence. However crucially what they all wanted was to make their voices heard through the vote.

Since the death of Franco, large chunks of Catalan society have neither identified with, nor felt represented by, the central parties of PP and PSOE in Madrid, feeling short- changed economically and side-lined socially and politically.

As my neighbour Carmen, a teacher, expressed: ‘This is not about a vote for the future. This is about a vote to finally break with the past.’

The handling of the situation by Mr Rajoy has been miscalculated. Sending in the Civil Guard and their subsequent actions have only served to strengthen the resolve of would be ‘Independentistas’ and, crucially, sway more moderate opinions.

The Spanish government continues to insist that the problem in Catalonia is with a minority of independence-seeking politicians and collaborators, who are somehow illegally fooling the rest of the Catalans.

I have spent most of the last 26 years in Catalonia, shoulder to shoulder with people from all sorts of backgrounds and educations, and it is an insult to their intelligence to believe in this simple populist view.

The issues here are far more complex, and need better quality leaders than Mr Rajoy and his team to tackle them. I personally hope that Catalonia does not leave Spain. But I am not Catalan.

If the Spanish government wish to persuade these people likewise, they will have to do much more than simply sending in riot police with batons.

GARY ANDREW LEWIS, British citizen, resident in Barcelona.