In case anyone is looking to understand better what is happening in Catalonia, a friend living there posted the following on whasapp. I hope she doesn't mind me re-posting here on Steemit ...

TO ALL my international friends
"This weekend I realized that some of my international friends are confused by what is happening in Spain with Catalonia.I hope this helps:

• Spain is a Western democracy and its Catalan citizens vote frequently. In fact, between European, national, regional and municipal elections have they voted 6 times in the last five years.
• In the last regional elections, pro-secession parties decided to unite around a single issue - independence - and not only failed to obtain a majority of votes, but also lost votes in relation to previous elections. Surveys, including those paid by the separatists, show that support for independence is a minority and declining.
• Catalonia is not "oppressed". It is one of the most prosperous regions of Spain and its citizens enjoy a high standard of living and one of the highest degrees of self-government in any region of Europe.
• The party traditionally headed by the regional government of Catalonia has used over the last 30 years public money to promote a separatist agenda through education and the local media and has been illegally financed with a corrupt scheme in which the contractors had to pay bribes at least 3% of any public work.
• The region of Catalonia has never existed as an independent political entity and was part or the Kingdom of Aragon, which merged dynamically with the Kingdom of Castile in 1492 to create the Spain we know today. There is no "union", as in the UK. Catalonia is Spain what Rousillon is to France or Cornwall to England.
• Spain is a parliamentary democracy, with a constitution that can be amended. A vote on territorial secession would require such amendment and the support of a qualified majority of Spaniards.
• No country or international organization (with the exception of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela) has supported this movement.
  So why the fuss? As the economy improves and support for independence diminishes, the separatists fear "losing the train" and, breaking with Spanish and regional laws, have embarked on a campaign to present the central government as "evil" for not allowing a regional referendum that do not comply with the constitution (widely approved throughout Spain, including Catalonia). This noise also hides regional corruption scandals and establishes separatists as victims of the upcoming general elections.
  I would add: I wish the central Government hadn't sent the police because the indendendentist provoked them and now all international press shows those images.
  And of course the police should have caused no harm at all.