Catalan referendum: Riot police 'fire rubber bullets' at crowd as they block voters at besieged polling stations - latest news

• Police in riot gear fire rubber bullets at pro-independence activists

• 337 people were injured or bruised, according to Catalonian spokesperson

• Ballot boxes seized by police in referendum banned by Madrid

• Madrid appeals for "cooperation and respect"

Spanish riot police fired rubber bullets and seized ballot boxes from polling stations in Catalonia on Sunday as thousands flooded the streets to vote in an independence referendum banned by Madrid.

As the vote officially opened, scenes of chaos erupted as police began moving in to prevent people from casting their ballots, forcing their way into one sports centre in the town of Girona where the region's separatist leader was due to vote.

Catalonian government spokesperson, Jordi Turull i Negre, said on Sunday afternoon that 337 people had visited hospital with injuries or bruises sustained in the violence, and urged any other wounded people to report themselves to Mossos. So far 91 have been confirmed to be injured, one of them with a serious eye injury.

Video footage from journalists on the ground appeared to show police firing rubber bullets at the crowd outside the Ramon Llull polling station in Barcelona. The newspaper La Vanguardia is reporting that a person is undergoing surgery due to an eye injury believed to have been caused by a rubber bullet. 

Several people have suffered minor injuries, including cuts and bruises, as National Police and Guardia Civil security forces push their way through crowds of referendum supporters to access the interior of polling stations.

The Spanish interior ministry said Sunday afternoon that 11 police officers had been injured in Catalonia.

After widespread accusations of heavy-handed policing, the Spanish government's top official in Catalonia said that security forces are acting "professionally".

Spain’s interior ministry has asked people not to obstruct members of the security forces as they seize electoral material from polling stations across Catalonia, appealing for “cooperation and respect so that a direct court order can be enacted peacefully”.

“The National Police and the Guardia Civil have to take action. The objective is not people. I repeat, the aim of this action is not the people who have freely turned up to express their opinion. The objective is electoral material,” said Enric Millo, the central government’s chief representative in Catalonia.

Catalan referendum in pictures

“We find ourselves forced to do what we didn’t want to do,” he added, criticising the Catalan regional Mossos d’Esquadra force for its passivity in failing to evacuate or close electoral colleges occupied overnight.

Many polling stations reported that their IT systems have failed, meaning that they cannot access the electronic census the Catalan government said would allow all citizens to cast their vote in any district.

Police were also reported to be charging at groups of protestors who refused to allow them access to polling stations.

The drama unfolded after a night of tension in which thousands of people, both nervous and excited, had gathered outside polling stations before dawn to vote, with police under orders to prevent the ballot from happening.

"Votarem, votarem!" - Catalan for "We will vote!" - chanted the crowds, many with their hands in the air.

As the rain poured down in Barcelona, students and activists who had spent the night in schools designated as polling stations gathered outside with locals to "defend" the vote from police as cars drove by honking their horns in support.

Catalan television broadcast footage of crowds in towns and villages all over region, whose separatist government said early Sunday the referendum would go ahead as planned.

Although the region is divided over independence, most people want to vote on the matter in legal, binding plebiscite.

"The government today is in a position to affirm that we can celebrate the referendum of self-determination - not as we wanted, but (it will have democratic) guarantees," Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull told a news conference.

4:26PM

Barcelona FC scoreboard turns political 

The scoreboard at the Barcelona Las Liga match flashed up with a pro-democracy message.

3:00PM

Barcelona match to go ahead

The game - which was uncertain just minutes before kick-off - will go ahead, but behind closed doors, Barcelona FC has confirmed. 

2:40PM

Uncertainty over Las Liga football match one hour before kick off 

Barcelona's La Liga match against Las Palmas remained in doubt less than an hour before kick-off.

BeIN Sports Spain reported that if the game goes ahead it would be played behind closed doors.

A section of Barcelona fans' groups had called for a peaceful pitch invasion to show their disgust at events at the polling stations.

Barcelona players have condemned the Spanish government's reaction to the Catalan independence vote.

Xavi Hernandez said in a social media post: "It is unbelievable that in a democratic country people cannot vote."

That message was echoed by Barcelona FC captain Gerard Pique who, when asked about the crackdown on protestors in Catalonia, said: "This is a shame, the images speak for themselves."

1:59PM

Madrid blames Catalonia for violence 

Spain’s government has blamed the scenes of confrontation in Catalonia on the “irresponsibility” of Catalan pro-independence leaders in insisting on holding an “illegal referendum”.

“There has not been a referendum or anything remotely similar,” Spain’s deputy prime minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, told reporters in Madrid.

Describing the ballot as “a farce” with no democratic guarantees, Ms Sáenz de Santamaría said that the “absolute irresponsibility of the Catalan government had to be substituted by the professional and restrained labour of the security forces”, adding that the police intervention was aimed at protecting people’s rights under the rule of law.

Pleading with Catalonia’s leaders to desist from continuing with the vote, the deputy prime minister compared President Carles Puigdemont to former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, saying: “Many years have passed since we rid ourselves of a leader who said his word was the law.”

1:53PM

Mossos officer breaks down

This moving image of a Catalonian police officer crying is being shared on social media. 

1:16PM

Police injured during Catalonia violence

Eleven police were injured in Catalonia in clashes with protesters Sunday as officers tried to block voting in a banned independence referendum, Spain's interior ministry said.

"For now there are a total of nine national police officers and two Civil Guard officers who have been injured while carrying out a judge's order" to stop the referendum, the ministry said in a Twitter post, adding that rocks had been thrown at police.

1:11PM

Calls for Rajoy to step down after Catalonia violence 

Barcelona's mayor has called for Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to step down in the wake of the violent police response during a banned independence referendum in Catalonia.

Ada Colau says that "if this is a democracy, the police action should be stopped immediately so we can later have a dialogue, which is what is needed."

The mayor was scheduled to vote at a secondary school, but wasn't able to do it because police blocked access to the polling station.

Ms Colau supports the vote as Catalan's expression of their political will but says that it can't be considered a binding referendum because it hasn't been agreed by the state, as Spain's Constitution requires.

She called Sunday's scuffles and clashes between voters and police "a rupture" of Mr Rajoy's government, saying "Rajoy has to clearly step down because he has failed in his political responsibilities."

12:59PM

Catalan Football Federation suspends all matches

All local football matches due to start after 2pm local time have been suspended by the Catalan Football Federation.

Barcelona FC are due to play Las Palmas at the Camp Nou at 3.15pm BST, with the club reportedly considering postponing the match following the protests.

12:17PM

Catalan justice department may pursue legal action against Spanish police, reports 

La Vanguardia reports that the Office of the Prosecutor has not ruled out pursuing action against the Spanish police after the force used rubber bullets to deter people from voting.

It reports that although the office has not yet made a decision, it will make an assessment by the end of Sunday.

12:02PM

Madrid says Spanish police behaviour is 'professional'

The Spanish government's top official in Catalonia says that security forces are acting "professionally" to enforce a judicial decision to halt a banned referendum on the region's secession from Spain.

Enric Millo, the central government's delegate in the north-eastern region, has thanked the National Police and Civil Guard forces for their efforts to "oversee safety of all Catalans and for guaranteeing their rights."

Mr Millo said that "today's events in Catalonia can never be portrayed as a referendum or anything similar."

He added: "Puigdemont and his team are solely responsible for all that has happened today and for all that can happen if they do not put an end to this farce."

Spanish police have fired rubber bullets at protesters and smashed into polling stations to try to halt the voting.

A spokesman for Catalonia's regional government has labelled the crackdown as "repression" and called for Mr Millo to step down for the handling of the police response.

11:58AM

Police action fails to stop the vote

At several polling stations visited by The Telegraph in Barcelona, the police raids had had little effect other than to temporarily pause voting and raise passions.

Voters stayed on after police had left and reopened the polls, in some cases with ballot boxes they had managed to hide.

"How great, we did it!" exclaimed one woman emerging from the Colegio Infant Jesus in the Gracia neighbourhood, the site of an earlier standoff with police that had ended with vote organizers barricading themselves behind the gates.

11:55AM

Puigdemont decries Madrid force

Catalonia's regional leader has condemned the Spanish police crackdown on people trying to vote in the disputed independence referendum.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said that "police brutality will shame forever the Spanish state" after police smashed their way into voting centers and fired rubber bullets to disperse crowds.

Police have been ordered to prevent the vote from taking place.

Mr Puigdemont was welcomed by cheering crowds at the gymnasium that police broke into in order to halt voting. The Catalan leader was meant to vote there in Sant Julia e Ramis but had to choose a different polling center instead.

He said the Spanish government had damaged itself by its actions.

Mr Puigdemont said that "today, the Spanish state has lost much more than what it had already lost, while Catalonia has won."

11:53AM

Reports of serious eye injury due to rubber bullet

The newspaper La Vanguardia is reporting that a person is undergoing surgery due to an eye injury believed to have been caused by a rubber bullet. 

The Catalan regional government banned the use of rubber bullets by security forces under its control after a woman lost an eye while protesting on the day of a national strike against austerity measures in 2012.

Ester Quintana awarded €261,000 compensation, although a criminal trial later acquitted two Mossos d’Esquadra police officers accused of firing at demonstrators, and said that it was impossible to prove beyond doubt that the woman’s injury had been caused by such a projectile.

The ban would not apply to national security forces such as the Spanish National Police or Guardia Civil.

11:42AM

Football stars and clubs weigh in

Former Spain and Barcelona FC player Xavi Hernàndez has used a video on social media to criticise police action against polling stations. “What’s happening in Catalonia is shameful. It’s unacceptable that people cannot vote in a democratic country,” he said, ending with Visca Catalunya! (Long live Catalonia!)

Another Barcelona player Gerard Pique tweeted that he had voted, saying:  'Together we are unstoppable defending democracy.'

Barcelona FC is scheduled to play UD Las Palmas this afternoon in a La Liga match in the former’s Camp Nou stadium. Barça FC’s board, however, has called a meeting to discuss the situation in the city, raising the possibility that the match culd be postponed.

Las Palmas, meanwhile, has announced that it will mark the date by sewing a Spanish flag into its players’ shirts to express the club’s “belief in the unity of Spain”.

In an official statement, the Canary islands club said it did not wish to make anyone uncomfortable with this gesture, just as it has never complained about the presence of Catalan flags when playing teams from the northeastern region.

11:15AM

Occupied schools 

Spain's interior ministry said Saturday police had closed most of the 2,315 polling stations across Catalonia.

But dozens were occupied by teachers, parents, students and activists determined to let people in anyway.

Some schools designated as polling stations imagined innovative ways to stay open, organising leisure activities all over the weekend, from kids' pyjama parties to volleyball games.

A regional government source said voting may also take place in other places like health centres and even retirement homes.

Farmers and firefighters have also pledged to protect polling stations.

11:15AM

Puigdemont casts his vote

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont voted on Sunday, despite the police crackdown on polling stations.

The regional government tweeted photos of Puigdemont casting his ballot in Cornella del Terri in the province of Girona, a different place from where he was initially supposed to vote.

11:09AM

Ballot boxes hidden 

The interior ministry said it had started seizing ballot boxes, adding police were "continuing to deploy in Catalonia" to stop the referendum.

Spain's central government is staunchly against the vote, which has been ruled unconstitutional by the courts, and has vowed to stop it from taking place.

On orders of judges and prosecutors, police have seized ballot papers, detained key organisers and shut down websites promoting the vote.

But on the streets early Sunday, voters were determined to be heard.

"Today is a historic day for us, it's terrific," Maria Rosa Pi-Sunyer Arguimbau, 55, said after a man carrying a ballot box jumped out of a car and ran to the door, depositing it inside as two police officers looked on across the street.

The ballot boxes have been at the centre of attention during the referendum crisis, with many wondering exactly where they were hidden and how they would be delivered to polling stations, as police were ordered to seize any material related to the referendum.

But as people crowded in front of polling stations, they started to arrive, carried in by individuals. It was as yet unclear where they came from.