Quote Originally Posted by goosano View Post
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A good thoughtful post. I spend a lot of time in Spain speak Spanish pretty fluently and have a lot of friends in Barcelona. They are all horrified by what has gone on. Whilst the police have responded with brutality in some situations my friends tell me the level of provocation and violence towards the police with rocks, stones and petrol bombs has been extremely high from a significant minority of protestors. Whilst the jailed Catalan leaders have advocated peaceful protest the current leader Quim Torra, has regrettably been slow to condemn the violence.

Catalonia has its own police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra that has largely replaced the Guardia Civil and Policia Nacional so it is largely the local police force that is involved. Some reinforcements have been drafted in from Valencia, Zaragoza and Madrid to help. Incidentally the Spanish police are held in very high esteem by the majority of Spaniards and are consistently rated highly in polls of public satisfaction with public services. There is generally a lot of trust in them.

Franco saw Catalonia and the Basque country as threats and invested heavily in the regions building industry there. The logic was that if people had a decent standard of living and employment then independence would be less of a threat. Ironically this helped to make them 2 of the economic powerhouses of the country and they could both do well economically as independent countries.

As we know from situations like Northern Ireland this type of situation can only be settled by dialogue and concessions from both sides. Sadly both sides seem to be digging in their heels and the blame game is being played at present.

Spanish politics and history are both fascinating and complicated. Some time ago I read Ghosts of Spain, travelling through a country's hidden past by Giles Tremlett, the Guardian's Spanish correspondent. A fascinating book that gives much insight into Spain's past with many things I did not know or appreciate
Got a copy of the book from the library and I will start it tonight with a nice merlot.