MIKE Thom is a Scot and long-time resident of Barcelona, and along with his wife and three children, they have told The National of the distressing scenes in Catalonia.

“This was shocking and brutal repression by the state forces," he said, after hundreds were injured by the Spanish authorities. “We’ve seen videos of people being shot by rubber bullets, women being thrown out of schools down stairs, all by Policia Nacional."

“One thing we saw that astounded us was when we drove up the AP7 motorway from Tarragona to Barcelona, there was a fleet – it must have been about 50 – four-wheel drive Guardia Civil vehicles full of people going down the road to Tarragona. It was like an invading army.”

READ MORE: How FC Barcelona showed solidarity with Catalan voters (and then thumped a team wearing Spain flags)

After returning to Barcelona from Tarragona, he described streets as “absolutely jammed” with people trying to get in to vote.

“Barcelona’s a very symmetrical city and all the junctions are big squares. There were lots of people standing in the road and they gave me the impression that they were there to warn the others if the police did arrive.

“We can actually vote in this – we’re UK nationals we’ve lived here for 17 years and both have the national identity number for foreigners, and we voted in the last referendum.

“So, I’m now thinking about going to a polling station to see if we can vote and we’ll see what happens.

“The situation in Barcelona is very, very tense. The violence is unprecedented – it’s one thing to launch into violent extremists who are illegally occupying houses, for example, but these are old ladies and mums in schools and they went in on Friday night and the riot police are beating the shit out of them, it is unbelievable.”

He added: “They [Guardia Civil] are absolutely lethal creatures – they are well trained and they’re thugs, without a doubt.

“I saw a lot of people on a staircase and one of the policemen jumped from about three steps up clearly on to somebody who was being held by two other cops and launched into this person. Then he turned around and grabbed another woman by the head and hauled her down the stairs. This woman was like a rag doll.”

Another movement that was gaining traction on social media called for action from the EU against Spain under Article 7 of the European Union Treaty, which states: “Suspension of any Member State that uses military force on its own population.”

“One family we know in Gracia spent four hours trying to get into a polling station," Thom said.

“Eventually they were told to go somewhere else, so they did and voted but it took around six or seven hours. They were told by the volunteers to switch off their phones and not record anything because the volunteers are breaking the law and could be targeted tomorrow as lawbreakers if they are identified.

“This is something unprecedented in western Europe – it’s almost like Chile in 1972.

“The wedding we were at yesterday, the groom is English and has lived there for a very long time and the bride is from the area, very Catalan, and her family went through the horror of the Battle of the Ebro – where the Civil War was cracked – and came up to Barcelona in 1939.

“They were at the wedding – a celebration for the couple, but the atmosphere was very charged with people determined to vote. I was in a kilt so that went down brilliantly.

“I showed a lot of people your front page with Molta Sort and they loved it. They’re seeing that some people outside of Catalonia are taking notice of what’s happening.

“What’s worrying is that none of these governments have done anything, even the EU, and I think that’s the big issue.

“Rajoy has clearly lost the plot. Politically he’s now toxic and this has got to the stage where Catalans have tolerated so much, but these police appear to have got up this morning and been told to go and kick the daylights out of them.”