Yes, I live in Spain but not in Catalonia. I disagree about the use of violence for preventing a referendum.

For more than 10 years, nationalists parties has been using the slogan "Spain steal us" to catch votes. It is true that Catalonia pay more taxes than the investment it obtains, but it is one of the richest regions, and when the taxes are compared to the GDP of the region it is not the most injured at all.

For many decades, the votes of nationalist parties was necessary for forming a government in Spain, so they exploited that to get a better budget and obtain coverage against corruption complaints. That is not the case anymore, and what a coincidence that since then they started to push for a declaration of independence.

It is also true that the current party at the government in Spain has fomented hate towards Catalonia for obtaining votes in the rest in the country for many years.

This situation reminds me of the Brexit. I think that a lot of people that did not vote or that voted yes did it as protest vote or because they believe the propaganda of the pro-independent. They think that the day after the independence is declared, Catalonia will magically became Switzerland.

I want that Catalonia stays in Spain, but I think in the current situation a referendum is unavoidable, proposing additional measures for increasing autonomy and with independent reviews that predict the consequences of the separation. And the longer that is postponed, the lower the chances are that people will vote no for the independence.