Catalonian overreaction is an example of how governments should not behave

The sight of police officers in Catalonia roughly handling pensioners engaged in what is essentially an act of civil disobedience is appalling, as Darren Mcgarvey points out (Perspective, 3 October).

He is right, too, to point out that civil disobedience, throughout history, has been a catalyst for extending the right to vote. Yet it is important to point out that this right has to be qualified by legal parameters. When I exercise my franchise I do so according to a number of factors.

The first is that the vote will be meaningful in the sense that it has a legal framework, the vote will be secret, there will be order and protocol at the polling stations, the election will be efficiently administered with impartial counting of the ballot papers and so on. Above all, perhaps, people need to know that the vote will have an outcome which will be clear - who is going to represent you on the local council, for example. The conduct of the election should be so watertight that it could not possibly be challenged in the courts.

Catalonia and Scotland may currently be part of nations within the European Union, but those nations have different political systems and history. Whether we like it or not the Spanish government in Madrid and the Westminster government in London are the custodians of their respective constitutions.

In 2014 the latter agreed to grant powers to Holyrood to conduct a referendum on independence for Scotland. Part of that agreement was the vote should be binary (no third option on ‘devo-max’) and that it should be carried out by the end of that year. It was implicit that the vote would be carried out according to rules set down by the Electoral Commission, and that both governments would ‘respect’ the outcome (whatever that meant). It was all very democratic and without question within the law.

Those who press for independence for Catalonia must respect their law too, for without that there will be no lasting solution to their ambitions.

BOB TAYLOR Shiel Court, Glenrothes Your leader that Spain will live to rue its day of shame (2 October) is an apt reminder to governments across the world on how not to conduct politics on the domestic front.

When there is conflict a wise government will seek to defuse the situation.

Had the Spanish government allowed the referendum to take place peacefully there would have been a result which the Spanish government in Madrid could then easily have ignored on the grounds that the referendum was not legally sanctioned.

Due to the actions of the Spanish forces of law and order in destroying ballot boxes and closing polling stations the results from the referendum are flawed and cannot be relied upon.

What is not in dispute is the violent behaviour of the authorities and that itself should be sufficient reason for the Catalan people to break their ties with the government in Madrid, and who would blame them.