People wave Spanish and Catalan flags during a march in downtown Barcelona, Spain, to protest the Catalan government's push for secession from the rest of Spain, Sunday Oct. 8, 2017. Sunday's rally comes a week after separatist leaders of the Catalan government held a referendum on secession that Spain's top court had suspended and the Spanish government said was illegal. (AP Photo)
Few people can be in any doubt that the Spanish government’s behaviour in Catalonia has been brutal and almost certainly counterproductive (GDN, October 2).
Some argue that the Catalans have an inalienable right to self-determination .