JASON BEATTIE

Latest clash in bitter feud that’s raged since 1714

Head of Politics

THE violence on the streets of Catalonia has been several hundred years in the making.

The region has always seen itself as separate from Spain, with its own language, literature and culture. It was an independent kingdom until 1714, when it came under the direct control of Madrid.

It was briefly granted limited autonomy in the 1930s but when General Franco won the civil war in 1939, he seized back control and suppressed Catalan culture. After Franco’s death in 1975, Catalonia was given some independent powers and its language was officially recognised.

BANNED

The independence movement revived after the economic crash in 2008. There was resentment in Catalonia, the economic powerhouse of the Spanish peninsula, that its taxes are redistributed across the rest of Spain.

The government of rightwing Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy then stoked the flames of independence by refusing to discuss handing Catalonia greater tax raising powers.

In October 2014, Catalan president Artur Mas held a non-binding referendum on independence – and 80% backed calls for a selfgoverning state. Madrid courts banned him from public office for holding the vote.

In June this year, new Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, announced plans for yesterday’s poll. Madrid has always insisted it is illegal.

But Rajoy sending the Guardia Civil to stop it is a terrible misjudgment that lets Catalans revive comparisons with the Franco era. And the fear is there is worse to come.

If Puigdemont carries out his threat to start the process of breaking from Spain in the event of a “yes” vote, we could see the violence escalate.