Workers protesting outside the Catalan government’s labour department, where mediators and union reps were trying to convince company bosses not to close two local electrical cable factories, grumbled that the government was more interested in politicking than job creation.

“They are thinking more about the independence process than anything else, perhaps because it affects more people,” said Antonio Castilla, who feared he would lose his job, although he blamed corporate greed rather than the independence movement.

Others were not so sure. Maria Antonia Ferrer, 56, who worked for a cleaning company contracted by the cable factory, feared that the protests were distracting the politicians from their core responsibility to protect livelihoods.

“We are in the background for the politicians with all this carry-on in Catalonia. They should be helping to keep jobs and businesses here,” she said.

In Barcelona students are now permanently encamped in the city’s University Square where protests against the heavy-handed jail sentences are organising via sophisticated and secure social media networks.

Among the lines of close-packed tents, 18-year-old Jordi was busy working on a sign to taunt the Spanish riot police whose tough tactics against demonstrators have further inflamed passions.

“Franco is dead, but Francoism is alive and well – this is a country where glorifying Francoism is apparently just ‘freedom of expression’, and where you can go to prison for speaking against the king,” he said.

He was backed by Berta, a humanities student, who like many of the younger protesters were supportive of direct action and civil disobedience, such as the recent storming of Barcelona’s airport which grounded flights.

“It got us noticed,” she said, adding that such protests had a greater impact than voting in elections. “I don’t think this election will count for anything; the three main parties will all make sure that nothing changes, so we’ll get the same result.”

Back among the protesters venting their fury at the king’s visit, there was no expectation of an imminent resolution. Mr Sánchez – despite taking a more restrained approach than his conservative predecessor – is equally vilified for refusing to grant them a referendum.

“The election won’t change anything, because even the parties of the Left are behaving now like the Right,” says Anna Payaro, a 38-year-old midwife, wearing a cycle helmet and a pollution mask in case the teargas started to fly.

“Even the Socialists can see that the more you hate the Catalans, the more votes you get [in the rest of Spain],” she added. “If the Right parties win then it is going to explode, but if we continue as we are now, then nothing much changes here.”