On October 1, 2017, the Spanish region of Catalonia voted to become independent from Spain, with a 90% majority. Catalonia was already quite autonomous – it has its own parliament and flag, and controls most of its own public services like schools.

Historically, the Catalans had felt that the Spanish nation as a whole was benefiting off of their hard work – and they might have a point. The region is Spain’s biggest exporter, and receives much less in federal spending than the taxes they contribute.

So the Catalonian government decided to vote on whether or not the region should remain independent. At the time of the vote, Lila Schatz, a Parker student currently on foreign exchange in Spain, reported that the rest of the country was extremely against the regions departure and that “the energy is very tense.”

That could be considered an understatement – from the time of the vote until now, there have been frequent clashes between the police and the independence movement, which are only getting more and more violent.

On the 21st of October, the Prime Minister of Spain moved to restrict Catalonia’s autonomy, and ruled the vote entirely invalid. This did not go over well with the Catalonian Government, who have dubbed this a coup. Tensions are only getting worse right now, and a peaceful solution seems to be becoming less and less likely.