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More than 2.25 million people turned out to Sunday’s referendum across Catalonia, a region in the northeast of Spain. The regional government said 90% of voters were in favor of a split from Madrid.
But the turnout was low – around 42% of the voter roll. Catalan authorities blamed the figure on the crackdown on the vote initiated by the national government.
Spain’s highest court had ruled the vote illegal under the Spanish constitution. Citing the judicial authority, Madrid flooded Catalonia with thousands of national police in advance of the vote. Officers seized millions of ballot papers and sealed schools and other buildings to be used as polling stations.
On Sunday, the day of the disputed vote, national police launched a concerted effort to prevent people from casting their ballots. Police fired rubber bullets at protesters and voters trying to take part in the referendum, and used batons to beat them back.
People help a man injured by a rubber bullet fired by Spanish police officers outside the Ramon Llull polling station in Barcelona.
FABIO BUCCIARELLI/AFP/Getty Images
Police smashed their way into polling stations, and were seen pulling voters out by the hair and restraining elderly people.
The scenes shocked Catalans and reverberated around Europe.
Almost 900 people were injured, Catalan officials said. Opposition parties criticized Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy for taking a heavy-handed approach to blocking the vote.
Why did it happen?
The long-running dispute goes back to the brutal years under Franco, whose dictatorial regime repressed Catalonia’s earlier limited autonomy. In 1979, four years after his death, the region was granted greater autonomy.
In 2006, the Spanish government backed Catalonia’s calls for even greater powers and financial control of the region, granting it “nation” status.
Protesters march through Barcelona during a demonstration to support the unity of Spain on October 8. A bitterly contested independence referendum on October 1 has stoked fierce divisions in the northeastern region of Catalonia and across Spain.
Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Thousands of people gather in Barcelona to rally for unity in Spain on October 8.
Riccardo Dodich
Protesters hold Spanish flags during a demonstration against independence for Catalonia on October 8.
Pau Barrena/AFP/Getty Images
Demonstrators urge a peaceful dialogue to resolve the crisis over Catalan independence on Saturday, October 7, in Madrid, Spain.
GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Crowds raise their hands during a demonstration October 7 in Barcelona encouraging talks to ease tensions over independence. Catalan nationalists argue the region is a separate nation with its own history, culture and language. But many Catalans also oppose separatism from Spain.
Emilio Morenatti/AP
People show their hands painted in white during a demonstration urging dialogue on October 7 in Madrid. Neither the Catalan regional government nor the national government in Madrid has been willing to give ground since the referendum.
GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
A woman wears a sticker with the Spanish word for "peace" at a demonstration in Madrid on October 7.
GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Protesters with Spanish flags gather to demonstrate against independence for Catalonia in Madrid on October 7.
JAVIER SORIANO/AFP/Getty Images
People attend a protest in Barcelona on Monday, October 2, a day after hundreds were injured in a police crackdown during the banned referendum. The Catalan government claimed victory after pushing forward with the vote despite Spain's Constitutional Court declaring it illegal.
LLUIS GENE/AFP/Getty Images
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont greets regional government workers before a meeting at the Palace of the Generalitat in Barcelona on October 2.
Manu Fernandez/AP
Independence supporters gather in Barcelona after Catalonia's separatist government held a referendum to decide if the region should split from Spain on Sunday, October 1.
Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A member of the Catalan National Assembly cries at the end of the voting day on October 1.
PAU BARRENA/AFP/Getty Images
Spanish riot police remove fences thrown at them as they try to prevent people from voting in Barcelona, Spain, on Sunday, October 1.
Felipe Dana/AP
Pro-referendum supporters clash with members of the Spanish National Police after police tried to enter a polling station to retrieve ballot boxes.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Pro-referendum supporters lock a gate to a polling station as members of the Spanish National Police arrive to control the area during voting at the Escola Industrial of Barcelona.
Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Spanish National Police clash with pro-referendum supporters in Barcelona.
Manu Fernandez/AP
Pro-independence supporters cover a mock ballot box with Estelada Catalan flags in Pamplona, northern Spain.
Alvaro Barrientos/AP
Spanish National Police clash with pro-referendum supporters in Barcelona.
Manu Fernandez/AP
People play games in a square where a giant pro-independence Estelada Catalan flag is displayed.
CESAR MANSO/AFP/Getty Images
A woman celebrates after voting at a polling station in Barcelona on October 1.
Bob Edme/AP
People help a man injured by a rubber bullet fired by Spanish police officers outside the Ramon Llull polling station in Barcelona.
FABIO BUCCIARELLI/AFP/Getty Images
Pro-referendum supporters embrace as Spanish National Police try to remove them from the Ramon Llull school in Barcelona.
Emilio Morenatti/AP
People queue to vote at a school in Barcelona.
Santi Palacios/AP
A woman casts her vote at a polling station in Barcelona.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Spanish riot police shoot rubber bullets at people trying to reach a voting site designated by the Catalan government in Barcelona. The deputy mayor of Barcelona said police fired rubber bullets at people as they attempted to vote in the referendum, which Spain's top court has declared illegal. There were reports that police in Girona, Spain, used batons.
Emilio Morenatti/AP
A protestor shouts as he holds a Catalan flag during a demonstration called by far-right groups in Barcelona.
PAU BARRENA/AFP/Getty Images
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, center, arrives to inspect a sports hall as police interve in Girona, Spain. Puigdemont condemned "indiscriminate aggression" against peaceful voters.
Burak Akbulut/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A Spanish riot police officer swings a club against would-be voters near a school assigned to be a polling station by the Catalan government in Barcelona.
Manu Fernandez/AP
Riot police drag a member of the public away from a school being used as a polling station. Regional authorities said 337 people were injured after Madrid deployed the national police force to close down polling stations. Catalan emergency services confirmed the number to CNN.
Geraldine Hope Ghelli/Bloomberg via Getty Images
People clash with Spanish National Police outside the Ramon Llull school, designated as a polling station by the Catalan government in Barcelona, Spain, early Sunday, October 1. Catalan pro-referendum supporters vowed to ignore a police ultimatum to leave the schools they are occupying to use in a vote seeking independence from Spain.
Emilio Morenatti/AP
People try to offer flowers to a civil guard at the entrance of a sports center, assigned to be a referendum polling station by the Catalan government in Sant Julia de Ramis, near Girona, Spain, October 1.
Francisco Seco/AP
People attend a demonstration against a referendum on independence for Catalonia on October 1 in Madrid, Spain.
JAVIER SORIANO/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
A woman casts her vote in a ballot at a polling station in Barcelona, on October 01 during a referendum on independence for Catalonia.
JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images
Members of Spain's national police force clear people from a polling station where Catalan President Carles Puigdemont had been expected to vote, in Sant Julia de Ramis, near Girona, Spain on October 1. Catalan pro-referendum supporters said they would not comply with a police order to leave the schools they are occupying to use in a vote seeking independence from Spain.
Francisco Seco/AP
A woman celebrates outside a polling station after casting her vote in Barcelona, on October 01 in a referendum on independence for Catalonia.
JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images
Family members comfort each other after they were unable to vote in the referendum after Spanish police closed their polling station October 1 in Sant Julia de Ramis, Spain.
David Ramos/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images
People wait at the doors of the Moises Broggi school to start voting during the Catalan independence referendum in Barcelona, Spain on October 1.
Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Divisions in Spain over Catalonia crisis
But four years after that, the status was rescinded by the Constitutional Court, which ruled that while Catalan is a “nationality,” Catalonia is not itself a nation.
Catalonia’s campaign to break away has been gaining momentum since 2010, when Spain’s economy plunged during the financial crisis. Catalonia is the wealthiest region in Spain and is industrially more advanced than the rest of the country.
The national government argues that Spain’s Constitution, revised in 1978, says that all Spaniards have the right to vote in referenda on major issues, so any vote on secession must be put to all Spaniards. Less than half of the regions 5 million voters appear to have taken part in the referendum.
There are several other complications with the vote. Because Madrid declared the vote illegal, many Catalans who might have turned out to an independence referendum chose not to.
Images of the use of force by police also suggest that many voters were physically prevented from casting their ballots, or felt intimated to do so.
What’s next?
The world is now waiting to see if Catalan officials will unilaterally declare independence. Authorities had earlier threatened to make the declaration within 48 hours of the vote if secession won.
But on Monday, the Catalan President stopped short of such a declaration, calling for international mediation instead.
Madrid has the option of seizing control of Catalonia’s administration by triggering article 155 of the Constitution. It could use this time to call a snap election and negotiate with new Catalan leaders.
But this is a major risk for the Spanish government. Like the use of force on Sunday, such a measure would likely fuel resentment for Madrid among Catalan independence supporters and create more political turmoil.
There is more at stake for Madrid than losing its wealthiest region. The country has 17 regions with varying degrees of autonomy, and losing one may inspire other regions to begin, or revive, separatist movements.
CNN’s Angela Dewan and Hilary Clarke reported from London. Vasco Cotovio reported from Barcelona.
