Spanish politics has been strongly influenced by violence for years. On October 1st, the police brutally beat citizens in the street as they went to vote in a referendum. A couple of years ago, there were grotesque mobs of far-right supporters on Calle Ferraz, in front of the PSOE headquarters, where physical violence was frequent, although the Popular Party applauded them as exemplary forms of citizen violence. Just over a year ago, Aznar famously said, "Whoever can do, let them do."