It's surprising how weak the Spanish government is. The obvious course of action would have been to arrest the entire leadership and charge them with treason and sedition. In Germany the parties promoting this movement would have been declared illegal and dissolved long ago.

It all boils down to a regional government using taxpayer's money to stage a mock election as a means to usurp the functions of the democratically elected national government.

And suddenly those who respect the Rule of Law are the bad guys.

Maybe the Spanish government is just waiting for them to actually declare independence to bring down the hammer.