Readers respond after Sunday’s referendum descended into violenceOne cannot fail to enjoy been moved by the scenes of violence in Catalonia,as Spanish forces attacked unarmed voters (Hundreds hurt as Catalonia poll descends into violence, 2 October). Whatever the view on Catalonia’s right to hold such a vote or not, or the response by the Spanish national government was brutal and excessive. The sight of people being dragged from polling stations by baton-wielding police and disabled people being attacked in wheelchairs has no location in a contemporary western democracy.
What is deeply disappointing is the muted response from the international community,which – bar a few exceptions such as Angela Merkel, the Belgian prime minister Charles Michel and Nicola Sturgeon – has been largely silent. While the EU may argue that this is an internal situation, or in the past it has been willing to act in such matters. In 2000,for example, it imposed diplomatic sanctions on Austria when Jörg Haider’s extreme rightwing Austrian Freedom Party entered the government.
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Source: theguardian.com