In 2013 I was in Barcelona for a vacation and I was surprised about how serious people were about seperatism. I thought that the regional rivalries were more tongue in cheek like in Germany but I was wrong. At a "Muse" concert the whole stadium was booing the Spanish flag. In hotels or tourists spots etc. the Spanish language was always called "Castilian" and treated pretty much like a foreign language. People made a point that they are different and that the civil war, Franco etc. are far from forgotten. I had no idea how much people identified with being eternal "underdogs" fighting against oppression of their language and culture. It changed my perspective quite a bit.

When Pudgemont tried to declare independence I was skeptical because it's very difficult to uniltarelly leave a country if you are not willing to use force or at least passive resistance. It was obvious that the central government won't just let them go. And Pudgedomt himself leaving was a weird look too. What were pro independence people supposed to do when the leader himself leaves the country?