It seems that the Spanish government is now willing to take a few pages out of the General Franco playbook to quash the separatist movement that has been gaining ground in Catalonia.
With a referendum on independence scheduled for October 1st, the Spanish government has launched a crackdown that may in fact only inflame the situation. State police have raided regional government offices, arrested Catalan officials organising the referendum, and seized ballot papers, ballot boxes, voting lists, and electoral material and literature. Now the finance ministry is also turning the screws to cut off funding for the vote.
