THERE has been a lot of attention this week on the Tory policing bill at Westminster, and while most of it does not directly apply in Scotland, where policing is devolved, it does show a determination from the UK Government to crackdown on peaceful protest and marginalised groups.

The specific mention of gypsy travellers in the new laws are steeped in discrimination and echo the sentiments of the now Scottish Conservative leader, who said in 2017 his number one priority was to “deal with the problem” of the historic rights of nomadic people. It was bad enough to hear an MP scapegoating Scotland’s oldest ethnic minority community, but now that discrimination has been placed on the face of legislation, it is clear the Tories are nastier than ever.

We may be used to Conservatives victim blaming, but these things matter, because what is at stake is the human rights of people who already struggle to be heard. But it also matters because the UK Government’s determination to quash peaceful protest should be in our minds when we think of the campaign for Scottish independence too.

We only need to look at the actions of the Spanish government in Catalonia to understand what happens when a central government loses the argument on self-determination. The eyes of the world were on Catalonia following the 2017 referendum and witnessed the actions of the Spanish Civil Guard, raiding offices and polling stations, and beating people trying to vote peacefully. Thousands took to the streets of Barcelona and Girona to protest against what they saw as unnecessary brutality.

Now the world’s media is focused elsewhere, but the authoritarian campaign against those whose only crime was to organise a ballot has continued. We have seen democratically elected politicians convicted of “disobedience”.

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It was deeply disappointing to see the European Parliament vote last week to remove the immunity of Clara Ponsati, the University of St Andrews academic who is wanted by the Spanish authorities for nothing more than trying to carry out the democratic will of her people. She and two others are MEPs, and it was their status as elected members of the European Parliament itself that granted them that immunity, so for the parliament to turn on its own was a dark day for that institution. In Catalonia itself, the bureau of the devolved parliament have been criminalised, simply for allowing time for debates on independence.

Think about that for a moment. Debate has been criminalised in Catalonia, even in its parliament.

Wherever you stand on the issue of independence, either here or abroad, you must surely recognise that criminalising debate is not something that happens in any democracy worthy of the name.

Indeed, a report by the World Economic Forum on the independence of the judiciary from government, corporate or individual influence ranked Spain below such bastions of liberal democracy as China, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Outlawing debate may seem a world away from Scotland, where it is the Unionists who do not stop talking about independence, but the UK Government has never condemned the actions of Spain in Catalonia. Tolerating injustice sets a dangerous and worrying precedent.

And recent language from the Tories questioning the integrity of our parliament should make us sit up and take note.

To hear a Tory Brexiteer talk about the Scottish Parliament’s “deficit of power” sticks in the craw, when we know they have been using every avenue to take that power away.

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The recent Internal Market Bill gives the UK Government a veto over any devolved decision which stands in the way of their free market agenda.

The increasingly Trumpian positioning of the Scottish Conservatives reminds us that they were the party who opposed devolution in the first place.

Taken in the context of their moves to silence the already disenfranchised and prevent peaceful protest, we must see this campaign for what it is – an assault on Scotland’s right to choose our own future.

While we should be in no doubt about their intentions, there will be vast political pressure on Boris Johnson when Scotland elects a majority of MSPs who support independence again, as polls consistently show will happen in May. That pressure must be applied quickly and unequivocally, with the recognition that Scottish Greens MSPs make up that majority. We do not want to experience what Catalonia has been through at the hands of an anti-democratic regime.

This is John Finnie’s final column before his retirement from the Scottish Parliament.