Violence erupts in Barcelona as Catalans defy ban to vote in independence referendum

Barcelona: Spanish police fired rubber bullets here on Sunday as they charged protesters who wanted to vote in a banned independence referendum in Catalonia, witnesses told AFP.

Jon Marauri, who is from the Basque Country, showed one of the rubber bullets he picked up after police charged hundreds of protesters. A demonstrator, David Pujol, showed an injury to his leg he said was caused by a rubber bullet.

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont lashed at the 'unjustified violence.' "The unjustified use of violence, which is both irrational and irresponsible, by the Spanish state will not stop the will of the Catalan people," he told reporters, referring to the police`s use of 'batons, rubber bullets and indiscriminate force against people demonstrating peacefully.'

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.

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 today 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.

But 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.