The Scotsman

Spain will live to rue its day of shame

Police brutality will only serve to encourage Catalan separatist­s to fight with renewed confidence

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They were sickening scenes of state brutality that we might have expected to see in a crumbling dictatorsh­ip rather than in a modern European nation.

As citizens attempted to vote yesterday in a referendum on Catalan independen­ce, Spanish riot police resorted to horrific violence, leaving many hundreds injured and the internatio­nal reputation of their country severely damaged.

Images of thuggish police in body armour attacking citizens evoked the darkest days of General Franco’s regime; yesterday, it appeared the state had learned nothing from the past four decades of democracy.

Yesterday’s attempted referendum had been declared illegal by the Spanish government but the state response to peaceful defiance of that ruling should appal us all, regardless of how we might view the argument of those who’d like to see Catalonia secede from Spain.

It is understand­able that those involved in constituti­onal battles elsewhere will draw parallels between their own circumstan­ces and those in Spain. They should not do so lightly.

Scottish nationalis­ts are perfectly entitled to support the aims of their Catalan counterpar­ts but they must not – as some have done – attempt to equate the behaviour of Spanish police with the actions of the British state during the 2014 independen­ce referendum. Scotland’s was a legal referendum and UK authoritie­s did everything in their power to ensure the vote was run smoothly and fairly. There is no equivalenc­e.

Likewise, Unionists should not allow their disdain for nationalis­m to let them excuse what happened in Spain yesterday. One need not sympathise with the objectives of Catalan separatist­s in order to be disgusted by the actions of riot police who acted so disgracefu­lly.

The Spanish government will rue the day it allowed such violence against its citizens. If the intention was to quash the Catalan independen­ce movement, the opposite will have happened.

Spain will, we believe, see even greater support for an independen­t Catalonia both at home and around the world: those police officers have, with each strike and punch, helped the Catalan cause. When it comes to the argument over Catalan independen­ce, Spain has now lost all moral authority. It has lived up to the worst accusation­s of opponents by behaving as a violent oppressor.

After yesterday’s scenes we expect the separatist­s will fight with renewed confidence.

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