We must all remember true value of democracy

Yesterday’s violence could have been avoided but this is the outcome the Catalan government had wanted

These are unprecedented times for Spain and Europe. Make no mistake: this is a brand new challenge to modern Western democracy in a new age of post-truth populism shaping Europe’s political landscape.

Despite Spain’s peaceful transition to a highly decentralised democracy, Catalan nationalism has managed to pit friend against friend, region against region, people against institutions, Catalan against Catalan.

Yesterday’s events could have been avoided. Sadly we witnessed forceful intervention despite the warnings of the Spanish courts and the authorities not to organise this divisive referendum.

The shocking images we witnessed are the inevitable consequence of the project the secessionist movement crafted with the exclusive aim of eliciting visceral support at home and abroad. Spanish authorities were aware of the seriousness of the situation and did their best to prepare.

No one was expecting these violent clashes, of course, but the Catalan government could have avoided the situation. Instead they preferred to break dialogue with the government and push towards escalation.

We all feel powerless and frustrated because our country is at the mercy of a “pro-independence playbook”.

This emphasises the narrative of victimhood and “a people’s struggle” that sadly will be reinforced by yeterday’s events. It was the outcome the Catalan government, seeking to antagonise Madrid and the Spanish people, wanted. It set emotion against emotion, and one part of our society against another. It is hard to accept.

More than ever we need to recall the true values of democracy: reasonable dialogue, checks and balances, fact-checking, consensual politics, representative decision making, and respect for ideological diversity within the limits of the rule of law.