What’s it like living in Catalonia after independence declaration?

Catalonia is at a standstill on Wednesday after protesters blocked roads, highways and train tracks as part of a regionwide strike, called by a pro-independence union. Dave Walsh, a pro-independence supporter who lives in Sant Cugat, explains what it has been like to live in the region since indpendence was declared on October 27th.
Having escaped police violence during Catalonia’s independence referendum on October 1st, trouble arrived this week in the town of Sant Cugat, where I live, just north of Barcelona.

On Monday night, an angry group of 300 people, waving Spanish flags, used knives to rip down a large banner that hung from the town hall. The banner read “Llibertat Presos Politics” - “Freedom for Political Prisoners” - in support of the Catalan government ministers and activists currently jailed in Madrid, following the recent declaration of the Catalan Republic.
The unionists tussled with local police and shouted at journalists, before leaving the banner in tatters on the city’s Rambla. It was strange way of going about building “unity”. The next morning, town council staff could be seen cleaning egg stains from windows.
In contrast, downtown Barcelona on October 27th was an ocean of blue, yellow and red, Esteladas, the flag of the pro-independence movement, as thousands packed into the city centre to celebrate the Catalan parliament’s acceptance of the October 1st “yes vote”.
Pro-independence gatherings tend to be peaceful, friendly and inclusive. If you turned up draped in a Spanish flag, you’d likely be welcomed. But that night, when Spanish flags appeared on the streets, people were assaulted and the windows of Catalunya Radio - a public broadcaster - were broken by protesters wearing la Rojigualda (the Spanish flag).
Passing into Catalonia from France a couple of days a later, I spotted a lone Spanish flag flapping in the wind. A hundred metres later, three Esteladas (the unofficial Catalan flag) flashed in the afternoon sun, their flagpoles straining under the tramontane wind. A hundred kilometres down the motorway, a banner on a bridge read “Willkommen in der Republik Katalonien”.