Spanish riot police burst into polling stations across Catalonia on Sunday, confiscating ballot boxes and voting papers to try to halt a banned referendum on a split from Spain as Madrid asserted its authority over the rebel region.

Police broke down doors to force entry into voting stations as defiant Catalans shouted "Out with the occupying forces!" and sang the anthem of the wealthy northeastern region. In one incident in Barcelona, police fired rubber projectiles.

Catalan officials said 337 people had been injured in the police crackdown. Officers in riot gear hit people with batons and forcibly removed would-be voters, including women and the elderly, from polling stations.

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont accused Spain of unjustified violence in stopping the vote and said it created a dreadful image of Spain.

"The unjustified, disproportionate and irresponsible violence of the Spanish state today has not only failed to stop Catalans' desire to vote... but has helped to clarify all the doubts we had to resolve today," he said. The referendum, declared illegal by Spain's central government, has thrown the country into its worst constitutional crisis in decades and deepened a centuries-old rift between Madrid and Barcelona.

Hundreds-strong queues of people formed throughout the region to cast their votes.  At one polling station, elderly people and those with children entered first. "I'm so pleased because despite all the hurdles they've put up, I've managed to vote," said Teresa, 72, a pensioner in Barcelona.

Source: Khaleej Times