THE Spanish government has hit back at Holyrood’s External Affairs Minister Fiona Hyslop after she said Catalonia should be able to hold an independence referendum to “choose the form of government best suited to their needs”.

A weekend statement quoted Hyslop as saying: “The decision over Catalonia’s future direction is a matter for the people who live there, and the Catalan and Spanish Governments are perfectly entitled to take positions for and against independence.”

But Spain’s ministry of foreign affairs said the example of how the Scottish referendum came to pass could not be applied under the Spanish constitution.

“Spain cannot apply the United Kingdom’s solution for the Scottish issue: our historical origins and our legal-political systems are different,” said a spokesperson.

“Spain has a written constitution, which makes the rules of the game clear.

“The Spanish constitution enshrines the Spanish nation as a political and social reality prior to the constitution itself.

“Therefore, national unity is the basis of our constitution. There are established procedures to amend the constitution.”

However, a Scottish Government spokesperson said yesterday that Hyslop’s position, as detailed in her statement, remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, Catalan citizens living in Scotland have been telling The National about their fears over developments in their home country.

Queralt Capsada-Munsech, a postdoctoral researcher at Glasgow University, said she was disappointed that Madrid had refused to talk about the poll.

She said: “I really expected something to happen sooner or later with the Spanish Government, but I’m annoyed, angry and disappointed that they have sent in the police instead of talking to people.

“I am hoping that it doesn’t end in violence. People from two generations ago remember the dictatorship of Franco, but younger people don’t and to them democracy allows them to demonstrate about things they don’t agree with.

“The PP [Mariano Rajoy’s People’s Party] inherited the remnants of the Franco regime and should not be threatening to send in the army or police. We do not want to see another dictatorship.”

Monica Pons, who is studying transnational crime, justice and security at Glasgow University, said in recent days the constant attack from the Spanish Government had eroded people’s rights.

“Some of our rights are now abolished, like free speech or confidentiality of communication,” she said. “What happened today is a serious injury against democracy, not only against our country.

“We lived this situation before, it happened back in the 1940s and was the beginning of a dictatorial state.

“I was talking with my sister while we were watching the declaration of Carme Forcadell [Catalonia’s Parliamentary President] 2000km away from each other.

“We couldn’t help it and our tears were running from our eyes. She was with my grandma, it is her birthday today. She was born in 1936, the year of the beginning of the Spanish civil war.

“Ironically, today she was able to experience the same situation that happened 81 years ago.”

Pons added: “The Spanish government said several times that we don’t have the right to vote and skip their rules – [which were] established with the 1978 constitution, created under the shadow of fascism, because they are a country part of the EU and the OTAN [NATO].

“My hope is that the European Union and OTAN are not going to let one of their member countries use force and repression against us.

“I’m flying out on the 30th of September to be there voting.

“There is nothing that can keep the Catalans away from the polls on October 1, it’s our right, we have been ready for this for a long time and the moment is now.”