Violence

A few years ago I was in Madrid when King Juan Carlos abdicated. I had to ask the hotel staff what was happening, as I couldn't believe what I was seeing on TV.

Now I can read about the violence in Barcelona during the Catalonian referendum in The Guardian on my iPhone. For example, this is a quote from the Catalan police union:

eading: “The police are always on the side of the law. But to treat Catalan citizens, in their entirety, as a mass of criminals and act against them with disproportionate violence can also be considered criminal – or seen as a measure of the poor democratic quality of the [Spanish] government”.

Now the new King has been on TV appealing for calm and unity. People have told me that Catalans feel that they are a rich part of Spain being ripped of in taxation by the central government. This is exactly how Western Australia feels about all the GST revenue going to Canberra!

Yesterday on the Camino I walked for a while with a woman from Barcelona. She said she was very sad about it all and felt she should be at home with her family. She told me she was a vet and had recently decided to make a change in her life. So she had sold her practice and come on the Camino to think what to do next. She is the one who took my photo on the old sofa!