Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau, has called on the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, to resign and demanded police stop using violence against voters.
Police action against the peaceful population must stop. Today, in Catalonia and in the state, we have to demand it. #ResignRajoy
Las actuaciones policiales contra población pacífica deben parar. Hoy todos, en Catalunya y en el Estado, tenemos que exigir #RajoyDimisión
The Guardian’s Madrid correspondent Sam Jones has been speaking to more voters:
Joaquin Pons, 89, was also delighted to have cast his ballot, as he had done in the symbolic referendum held three years ago.
“Last time it was cardboard ballot boxes,” he said. “This time they were real. It was very emotional.” Pons said that he felt Catalans had had little choice but to proceed unilaterally.
“It would have been nice if we could all have stayed together in Spain but the Madrid government has made it impossible. It’s sad but that’s the way it is.”
There are still long lines of people waiting to cast their vote across Catalonia. El Pais journalist Alfonso Congostrina has posted a video of voters queuing round the corner in central Barcelona.
Blai Antonio, a 76-year-old retired taxi driver emerged from the polling station at the Escuela Mireia triumphant and with tears in his eyes. Pushing through a cheering crowd, he said: “The experience of being able to vote has given me a satisfaction I could never have dreamed of. It would have been impossible under Franco – although his heirs are still in power. Catalan independence is important so that we can live in a democracy, which Spain isn’t. We send all our money to the government and get crumbs in return.”
Antonio said that, unlike some others, he had been able to vote in peace. “The oppressive police haven’t come here yet but we still have the whole day ahead of us and they could come and steal the ballot boxes with our votes in them. We just want to be able to vote free of the oppression of any state.”
Blai Antonio, a 76-year-old retired taxi driver, at Escuela Mireia polling station Photograph: Sam Jones
Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull has announced that 73% of polling stations have been able to open and asked for patience as “there are constant attacks on the computer system.
There are several reports on social media of Spanish police firing rubber bullets at people queuing to vote in the referendum. Princeton researcher Jordi Graupera posted a video of what appears to be a member of the Guardia Civil firing into the crowd.
The Spanish interior ministry has asked Catalan schools to collaborate with their operation to halt the referendum. A video of Spanish police confiscating urns in a sports hall in Sant Carles de la Rápita, Tarragona, was also posted on its Twitter page.
Sam Jones, the Guardian’s Madrid correspondent, writes:
Despite several reports of polling stations being closed down by Spanish police across Catalonia, the Guardian’s Sam Jones says hundreds of people are still queuing up to vote at Cervantes primary school and Escuela Mireia in Barcelona. People waiting in line to vote are cheering those who have already managed to do so.
Cervantes primary school, Barcelona Photograph: Sam Jones in Catalonia
Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias has also been reacting to the intervention by Spanish police.
He writes: “Bumps, shoves, old women dragged. What the PP is doing to our democracy is repugnant to me. Corrupt, hypocritical, useless. Is this your ‘victory’ Mariano Rajoy?”
Porrazos, empujones, ancianas arrastradas. Lo que está haciendo el PP a nuestra democracia me repugna. Corruptos, hipócritas, inútiles
