'Families are torn apart' - Catalonia divided as voters go to the polls

Catalans are voting in a parliamentary election that will test the strength of feeling about independence.

It may be a political battle but the issue has left a deep emotional scar on what was already a divided region.

Friends and colleagues admit they have fallen out, family members are not talking, some say they are afraid to state their opinion.

Maria Sanchez is a Catalan grandmother we met at an anti-independence rally.

She tells me she is no longer speaking to the brother she has been close to for more than 60 years.

"He broke my heart," Maria says of his decision to vote for independence in October's disputed referendum.

She assumes he will back a separatist party in the election but she cannot be sure as she hasn't seen him in weeks.

Maria's experience is not unusual. It seems everyone in the region has a story about fallouts over an issue which stirs deep passions.

We met Anna Dorador and her long time friend Lidia Blanquez enjoying a pre-Christmas catch-up in the mountains outside Barcelona.

The pair have managed to maintain their friendship despite being on either side of the independence battle.

"There are families broken because of this," Anna tells us.

"That's what's sad. That's really what pains me, families are torn apart because of personal ideology."

Lidia admits some members of her extended family don't talk to one another.

But she adds: "Despite Anna's ideas at this time, wanting independence, I respect her because I love her despite her opinions."

What unites them ahead of the election where they will vote for very different parties is worry about how society here will recover.

source: SkyNewa