Edinburgh/Ottawa — The standoff between Madrid and supporters of independence in Spain’s Catalan region has stirred separatist feelings far beyond the Spanish borders. Politicians across the globe criticised armed Spanish police who used truncheons and rubber bullets on voters, injuring hundreds in a crackdown on Sunday’s secession vote, considered illegal under Spain’s 1978 constitution. Several politicians from regions with their own separatist movements said it was time for politics to resolve the crisis in the eurozone’s fourth-biggest economy. Catalan leaders said the result showed its people wanted to leave Spain and it would push ahead with secession. Madrid has ruled out talks until, it said, Catalonia acts within the law. "The solution is political. It won’t be through repression, it won’t be through brutality, and what needs to happen is a political discussion. I think that’s reality," Quebec’s premier Philippe Couillard said. He drew parallels for a potential solution to ...
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