if people want to vote, then let them
even if you think catalonia has little to no historical/cultural presence you should still let them vote regardless of your political stance. because that's what the right of self-determination is for and should always remain as a basic principle
unfortunately, this basic right has been stripped from the catalan people because the ALLMIGHTY and FLAWLESS spanish constitution goes against it. the spanish government simply refuses and won't listen to anything that has to do with catalonia's becoming an independent country, and what happened today with all the voters getting hurt by the police and stuff is the result of catalans growing tired of a lazy state that has done nothing to solve this issue and hasn't tried for 7 fucking years
but 7 years isn't much, you say. look up what happened 80-40 years ago, during the francoist spain. people who thought catalonia should be an independent country would be executed right on the spot. catalan language was completely forbidden. anything related to our culture (which is exactly why people outside get the feeling that we aren't any different from spain, and the current spanish press has done a wonderful job spreading lies and piles of bullshit on that matter) was strictly forbidden. most (if not all) catalan people who lived during that period were forced to act and keep their identity as spaniards, because you know what would've happened to them if they didn't
so yeah, at least people aren't gonna get executed for having different viewpoints now (
or so i want to think). and so, catalan people are also slowly realizing how much of a shithole the spanish state is, and how retarded they are for not forbidding anything that happens in the
opposite side of the spectrum (can you imagine this picture ever happening in current germany? i certainly don't)
and this is only a couple of reasons as to why people want the independence from spain, i'm not going to go into detail because i'm lazy. but let's just say that catalonia has been INSANELY oppressed during all these years and people are getting fed up with it