Violence erupts in Spain over Catalan referendum

Last updated: October 1, 2017 at 12:57 pm

Police have fired rubber bullets at crowds in Barcelona as violence erupted amid Catalonia's illegal independence poll.

Loud bangs rang out as the projectiles were fired, sending people in the street running for cover.

Police vans drove down the road as protesters who had been sitting on the street fled, and witnesses reported seeing people bleeding.

Emergency services tweeted that they had so far helped at least 38 people injured in violence connected with the vote.

Three of those had serious injuries but most had "bruises, dizziness and anxiety attacks".

People in the northeastern Spanish region have turned out for an illegal referendum on splitting from Spain - but police drafted in from across the country have blocked off polling stations and forcibly seized ballot boxes.

[caption id="attachment_6257" align="aligncenter" width="500"] ©JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images[/caption]

Just outside Girona, to the north of Barcelona, police used a hammer to smash through a glass door of a school where Catalonia's president, Carles Puigdemont, was expected to appear.

There were scuffles outside as people chanted: "I will vote!

Cyber tactics

Puigdemont has called the police crackdown "unjustified, disproportionate and irresponsible" and said it had shown a "dreadful external image of Spain".

Catalan officials earlier said voters could go to any polling station, not just their designated one, in an attempt to ensure people are able to vote.

The regional government tweeted on Sunday morning that 73% of polling stations (4,561) were open.

However, Spain's interior ministry has tried to disrupt the vote by disabling the website hosting census data.

It said it meant that people could now vote at several polling stations and "regardless of origin or place of residence".

On Saturday night, campaigners camped out in schools, many with their children, in an attempt to stop police taking over the buildings.

The government's assertion that the referendum is illegal is backed up by the courts and a judgment based on the Spanish constitution.

Many in Catalonia and across Spain do not support the illegal vote or the push for independence and protests have been held in recent days in cities including Barcelona and Madrid.

WICNews.com