Why do some Catalan nationalists say that throwing stones to the police is not a violent act? What happens if they hurt/kill someone? Is this rhetoric acceptable in a modern European democracy?

People, let’s show some backbone!

We should not care what a violent group of people (the Committees of Defense of the Republic, abbr. CDRs) has to say about violence.

In principle, throwing stones is a criminal offense. One can assume that when people throw rocks that there an intent to cause harm and to injure. People who throw rocks should be identified, detained and prosecuted.

The Mandate to use Physical Force

Let us remember that modern states possess a mandate to use physical force for the purpose of upholding the law, keeping the peace, protecting the citizens, and preserving the rights of the people.

Not least, police action (in Catalonia) been reasonably restrained and was certainly no worse than one can observe in large, violent demonstrations in other European countries (the 27th G8 summit in Genoa; G20 summit in Hamburg).

The Rule of the Mob

There is one further matter that must be grasped. In a normal, properly constituted liberal democracy, disobedience, provocation, incitement and violent protest are as a matter of principle unacceptable courses of action.

These are in effect forms of coercive action by an unelected minority, a use of force to intimidate and compel a properly elected government to concede to the demands of this unelected minority. The use of physical force by the police is in such cases as a matter of principle legitimate. It is restorative of the authority of a properly elected government.

No government should have to apologize, no statesman should have to cringe, because of the use of physical force by the police.

It should also be clear that this is not a defense of unprovoked, excessive and criminal use of physical force or abuse of power by wayward police officers. A just government must take all the necessary measures to minimize abuses of power by the police. Effective measures to that effect secure the legitimate use of physical force to the extent that it is necessary.

Subversion

It is the moral right of citizens to defy and resist by means of protest and civil disobedience an unjust authority that will not hear them. This was the case of

the protests, including violent protests, by the black population in South Africa against Apartheid.

However, the protests and campaigns by the CDRs serve a vicious cause: that of a minority (the Catalan nationalists) that seeks to unlawfully grab power using unconstitutional and undemocratic means. In this instance, the use of physical force by the Spanish state to deter violent protesters is justified.

Finally, let us not forget that the Spanish Council of Ministers was completely in its right to hold its cabinet meeting in Barcelona. The capital of Catalonia is Spanish soil. The meeting in Barcelona was in retrospect, symbolically, the right thing to do.

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-some-Catalan-nationalists-say-that-throwing-stones-to-the-police-is-not-a-violent-act-What-happens-if-they-hurt-kill-someone-Is-this-rhetoric-acceptable-in-a-modern-European-democracy