Losing Hearts and Minds in Barcelona

If the Spanish government somehow thought that a heavy-handed police response to the referendum was going to turn the Catalan people against independence, that is going to prove to be a terrible mistake.  All they’re doing is reminding the Catalans of what life under Franco was like, which was a large part of the case for independence in the first place.

Regardless of the outcome of the referendum, my guess is that support for independence will increase significantly after this fiasco.