Barricades and sit-ins as Catalan voters face police

As dawn broke, though, those hopes diminished as news spread that riot police were on the way.

And then they arrived.

At one polling station, armed, helmeted police broke in to seize ballot boxes prepared for the vote, firing rubber bullets on their way out.

At another voting center in a university campus, activists put up barricades to bar their route, allowing hundreds of people to keep voting — some in wheelchairs, others escorting their elderly parents or bringing their children.

‘We will vote’

The atmosphere in the Mediterranean seaside city was tense following weeks of standoff between separatist regional authorities and Madrid over plans to hold the referendum.

Dozens of polling stations had been occupied all weekend to stop police from closing them down as ordered by a judge as Madrid sought to stop a referendum it deems unconstitutional.

Around 5 am, hundreds of locals joined those who had camped out overnight, crossing paths with young revellers ending their night, some with cans of beer in hand.

Catalonia’s government had organized the vote in secret over the past four weeks, under the threat of reprisals and criminal charges from the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

From Barcelona to Girona to Figueras, thousands of Catalans stood in unprecedented defiance of the central authorities, crying “Votarem” — “We will vote.”

With the regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, showing little inclination to engage with the demonstrators, the national police and the Guardia Civil closed in.

In Girona, police surrounded the sports centre where regional president Carles Puigdemont was expected to vote, before cutting a chain to force their way in and confiscate ballot boxes.

Outside, protesters with raised fists sang “L’Estaca,” a traditional resistance ballad during the dictatorial regime of Francisco Franco.

Meanwhile in Barcelona, Marc Carrasco, the 52-year-old in charge of the Ramon Llull voting station, was visibly on edge as he recalled what he had just witnessed.

“They took six or seven ballot boxes, they entered by forcing the door in. We were inside singing the Catalan hymn when we heard very violent knocks at the door,” he said.

“They took the ballot boxes by force… and they literally yanked them from us as we continued to sing ‘Els Segadors’, the Catalan hymn, and shouting “long live democracy’.”

When they left, police found themselves in front of several hundred activists who had sat down to block them, and they charged, witnesses said.

They first tried to disperse the crowds by firing warning shots, “but when they saw it wasn’t working, they used this,” said Jon Marauri, a 22-year-old emergency worker, holding rubber bullets.

‘I didn’t vote’

The Catalan government said 465 people were received by medical services — at least 92 were deemed injured.

The interior ministry, meanwhile, said a dozen police officers were hurt.

At Barcelona’s Escola Industrial, a polytechnic, voting was going ahead without drama late morning, with hundreds of umbrella-wielding people cheering those who walked out of the building after casting their ballot.

“I’ve voted, I’ve voted,” shouted one man.

“There is great hope, to vote freely like this after the difficulties we’ve had,” said Jose Mas Ribas, a 79-year-old pensioner sporting sunglasses despite the grey day.

He spoke too soon, though, as people queuing on the pavement outside the campus shouted “police.”

A crowd rushed to the main entrance to the campus as one mother grabbed her crying little boy, closing the gate shut and shouting “the streets will always be ours.”

The police vans moved on.

Gema Martinez, a 49-year-old laboratory worker, said she was initially against voting. “But now, I’m going to vote yes to independence,” she said angrily.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont denounced “unjustified violence.”

Yet in other parts of Barcelona, the streets were more tranquil as families strolled.

Opinion polls show that while an overwhelming majority of Catalans want to vote in a legal referendum, the region is deeply divided over independence.

In Nou Barris, Jose Luis Hernandez Guilleu, a 54-year-old dental assistant, said he hadn’t voted.

“It’s not legal,” he said, sipping his beer at a bar with his wife.

“I’m not against independence but I didn’t vote because there is a constitution, this can be done differently.”