[The Man]

Chrome ate my first reply so this one will end up being a bit pithier than I intended. (Evidently I need to restart Lazarus.)

From where I'm sitting, neither side is coming out looking too good. Very nearly all the grievances the Catalan secession movement claimed before this month have been trivial at best and outright fatuous at worst, particularly given the ample evidence that Putin is backing the secession movement behind the scenes. However, Rajoy's response was completely indefensible. Regardless of what one thinks of a vote's legitimacy or lack thereof, attacking people who are engaging peacefully in a democratic process is beyond the pale. After this, I can't fault any Catalan who wants out of Spain too heavily, regardless of how good they have it overall. With Rajoy's government basically endorsing police brutality against Catalan citizens, I can entirely understand why Catalans don't feel safe in their own country.

At the same time, I don't really think secession is the answer. To me, this looks like the sort of thing where the EU itself should intervene. In fact, this looks to me to be an example of pretty much exactly the kind of dispute it was created to resolve, and while I haven't studied it lately, it was part of my university degree and from my recollection I'm almost certain aspects of Rajoy's response have violated aspects of the EU charter. And to be clear, if this secession thing goes through, it will probably end up economically devastating both countries.

In short, Rajoy is an asshole, the Catalan independence movement is at best foolish, and the EU needs to intervene to stop this inanity from escalating on both sides before it gets even worse.