Spanish practices

Should there be a read-across from Catalonia to Scotland?  Alex Massie in The Times thinks not.  For if we map the two together:

That means that certain rules must be observed. If you are Yes in Scotland you must be Si in Catalonia and that in turn means that if you’re No in Scotland you must have at least an inkling of sympathy for Madrid’s response to its Barcelona provocation.

Allow me to tell you a secret: you don’t have to play this game. The world is a complicated place and there is no great shame in admitting as much. Nor is there any disgrace in acknowledging that more than one thing may be true at a time. So the Spanish government’s iron-fisted response to its Catalan problem has actually been ham-fisted, but so too has the Catalan government’s own independence manoeuvrings. If Madrid has dirtier hands than Barcelona, that doesn’t mean that Barcelona’s hands are spotlessly clean. And those of us who live in Scotland have no need to pick sides in a fight that is not, in the end, much of our business.

On the other hand, do we just stand by and fail to condemn the brutality of the Guardia Civil in its dealings with ordinary European citizens?  Does that not mean taking sides?