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More than 400 people have been reportedly injured in clashes between riot police and voters during the Catalonia independence referendum, Catalan officials have said.
Spanish police used batons and rubber bullets to remove people from polling stations across the region as thousands turned out to vote on independence.
Clashes were seen in Barcelona, the region’s capital, and other districts while police seized ballot boxes and smashed their way in to polling centres.
Spain-What you need to know about Catalonia
Updates
—Barcelona’s mayor says at least 460 people have been injured as police have used force to try to prevent voting in Catalonia’s independence referendum.
– Spanish police have fired rubber bullets at protesters outside a polling station to try to stop voting in the referendum, with some 350 people reported injured in the melee. Some demonstrators had barred police from leaving a polling station with voting material.
— Police smashed their way into polling stations in Catalonia, with the Spanish government insisting that the vote is illegal. Madrid says most of the 2,315 polling stations in the region have been closed.
— Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria claims police have intervened with “firmness and proportionality.”
Spain’s Interior Ministry said 11 police officers were injured while ‘fulfilling judicial orders’ to prevent the referendum from taking place.
The ministry tweeted that the injured included nine National Police officers and two Civil Guard agents.
The regional leader of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, has accused Spanish authorities of using “unjustified, disproportionate and irresponsible” violence in its crackdown on the region’s independence referendum.
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WHAT IS CONTROVERSY
Located in the northeast of the Iberian peninsula, Catalonia has been a part of Spain since the 15th century. But Catalan separatists argue that they are a nation with a distinct language, culture and history separate. Independence, they say, will protect the Catalan nation from the encroachment of Spanish language and culture.
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However Spanish deputy Prime Minister, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, praised the actions of Spanish police in preventing the independence referendum from going ahead.
According to local media, officers fired while trying to clear a crowd blocking them from leaving with confiscated ballot boxes from the voting center.
Scuffles also broke out near the Catalan city of Girona, where the regional president, Carles Puigdemont, was due to cast his ballot. Television footage showed police forcing their way into the voting center in Sant Julia de Ramis, using batons to disperse would-be voters before smashing through a glass door. Officers with shields and helmets were seen dragging people away.
Following the raid, Puigdemont cast his vote at a different polling station in the village of Cornella del Terri. The Catalan leader condemned the police crackdown, saying it would “shame the Spanish state forever.”
“The unjustified use of violence, which is both irrational and irresponsible, by the Spanish state will not stop the will of the Catalan people,” Puigdemont told reporters.
His comments were echoed by Catalonia’s ombudsman, Rafael Ribo, who called on police to stop all violent actions against citizens. In an emotional press conference, he said he planned to complain to European authorities about the government’s tactics.
Police move in on members of the public waiting to cast their vote in the village of Sant Julia de Ramis Police move in on members of the public waiting to cast their vote Madrid: Referendum a ‘farce’
Madrid, which has declared the referendum illegal, deployed thousands of extra police to Catalonia with orders to clear out voting centers and refrain from using violence.
Spanish government delegate to Catalonia, Enric Millo, defended the security forces’ behavior, saying they were acting “professionally” and with “proportionality” to “oversee the safety of all Catalans.”