THE events in Catalonia are distressing to anyone who supports a peaceful and democratic movement for self-determination and independence. They’re especially distressing to me personally, having lived in Spain for over 15 years where I learned Spanish and Catalan and came to love the country. I felt as much at home in Spain as I do in Scotland, and even after returning to Scotland in 2013 I’ve followed events in Spain closely. The wee ginger dug is from a Catalan-speaking town. He was picked up as a stray from the edge of an irrigation canal near the Catalan-speaking city of Elx in the Valencian community. During our independence campaign a Catalan newspaper published a little piece about Ginger, titled, El gos valencià al centre del debat escocès – The Valencian dog at the centre of the Scottish debate.

On Sunday I cried, because the Spain I knew and loved was killing itself. The Spain I knew and loved was allowing the demons of the fascist past to walk the streets of Barcelona and Girona, masked, dressed in black uniforms, and swinging coshes.

One of the most important features shared by the Scottish and Catalan independence movements is our determination to achieve independence peacefully, democratically, and through the ballot box. Those of us who seek independence for our respective countries know that the character of the campaign we run in order to achieve independence will determine the character of the independent state which we achieve. A peaceable, tolerant, and outwards-looking independence movement seeks to build a peaceable, tolerant and outwards-looking nation.

Mariano Rajoy’s vicious and violent reply to the Catalan referendum was distressing for the simple reason that it was violent and unnecessary. It’s also distressing because it provided a lesson to supporters of the Catalan independence movement that they may not be able to achieve their dream of a Catalan republic through the ballot box. The aggressive response of the Spanish state to Catalan attempts to hold an entirely peaceable and respectful referendum on the question of the future of Catalonia must make some involved in the independence campaign in Catalonia wonder whether there is any future in a campaign that seeks independence through the ballot box when those attempts are met with punches, tear gas and kicks. Some in Catalonia will now be wondering whether they should answer the violent response of the Spanish state in kind. That’s a huge worry and a deep concern. Violence is never justified. A state born in violence is a state in which the use of violence becomes legitimised.

We can only hope that calm heads prevail in Catalonia. One thing is certain however, the batton coshes and rubber bullets of the Spanish police will not deter the Catalan independence movement. That movement was already determined, but now it’s determined, it’s angry, and it’s indignant. Mariano Rajoy’s intolerant and vindictive response to the demand of Catalonia for a referendum on independence have only made Catalan independence more likely. Catalans who already supported independence will now be convinced that there is no place for them in the Spanish state, and many of those who were undecided will now be considering whether they wish to be a part of a state whose response to a demand for a referendum is a rubber bullet.

A group of international observers in attendance during the Catalan referendum produced a preliminary report on Monday in which they condemned the numerous violations of human and civil rights committed by the Spanish police. Some figures in the Labour Party likewise condemned the actions of the Spanish police, including Jeremy Corbyn and Kezia Dugdale, and called on Theresa May to put pressure on the Spanish government. However certain supporters of the Labour Party in Scotland who are prominent on social media were unable to condemn the violence of a police officer coshing an elderly woman over the head. They preferred to support the actions of the state against “separatism”, even where those actions were unreasonable, intolerant, and violent. For some in the Labour Party, solidarity doesn’t extend to working-class people who seek independence. The shameful statements on social media of those Labour figures only confirm the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of that party in Scotland.

Democracy in Spain was always fragile. Unlike other European countries which suffered under fascist dictatorships, Spain did not undergo any process comparable to the denazification of Germany. After the dictator Franco died, his political heirs simply donned democratic drag and continued as before. The current ruling party in Spain, the Partido Popular of Mariano Rajoy, is directly descended from the Francoists. One of the reasons that support for EU membership is so high in Spain is that Spanish people see the EU as being an essential guarantor of Spanish democracy. In its refusal to make a strong condemnation of the violence meted out by the Spanish paramilitary police against entirely peaceful Catalan citizens who only sought to vote, the EU has betrayed its role as a bastion of Spanish democracy. It has told Rajoy that it will turn a blind eye to the naked aggression of the Guardia Civil.

That in turn must make those of us in the Scottish independence movement who have always supported Scottish membership of the EU question whether we want to ally ourselves with an institution which turns its back on European citizens who are oppressed and subjugated by state violence.

The actions of the Spanish police may have succeeded in preventing thousands of Catalans from casting their ballots, but they will not succeed in blocking the Catalan independence movement forever. On Saturday Spain was facing a constitutional crisis, now thanks to the indefensible actions of the Spanish police it’s facing a human and civil rights crisis as well. You can’t keep people united with contempt. You can’t build national unity on violence. There is no place for Catalonia in Spain now, and it’s merely a question of when it achieves the dream of so many Catalans for an independent Catalan republic. Spain has died, its skull and soul crushed under the boot of a Guardia Civil officer, the only uncertainty is when the funeral is going to be.