• Voting is going ahead across Catalonia today

• Riot police charged crowds of people at polling stations in Barcelona attempting to disperse crowds with what appeared to be rounds of rubber bullets.

• Carles Puigdemont managed to cast his vote just before police moved in on the polling station and closed it down

12:02 Nicola Sturgeon ‘disturbed’ by images from Catalonia

The Scottish leader has spoken out to condemn the scenes of police brutality as Catalans try and vote.The First Minister of Scotland has previously expressed solidarity with the Catalan cause and desire to hold a Scottish-style referendum on independence.

READ MORE: Scottish leader raises concern over Catalonia crisis

11:57 At least 38 people have been injured in police clashes 

Catalan authorities confirm that so far 38 people have been treated for injuries resulting from police action at polling stations

11:53 Puidemont blasts “unjustified violence”

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont lashed out Sunday at the “unjustified violence” used by Spain’s national police in dispersing people in Barcelona who wanted to vote in an independence referendum banned by Madrid.

“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”.

11:40 People are voting peacefully where they can

Photo: Daisy Bata

Alex and Marta just voted at the Escola de Concepcio at Carrer Bruc in Barcelona.

“We came an hour ago here and they made space for us to enter. There was a feeling of euphoria inside and people clapping when you cast a vote. We saw images of the policy brutality on the internet, but we weren’t afraid or angered because it was expected”

11:00 Police brutality

Dozens of people waiting outside the Ramon Llull school in Barcelona were forced to take cover after hearing shots fired by officers from the National Police.

In a video taken by Daisy Bata for The Local Spain rounds of shots can be clearly be heard.

Riot police appear to be firing rounds of rubber bullets to disperse crowds. This from Daisy Bata, our reported on the ground in Barcelona pic.twitter.com/ysBDyUG9gN

— The Local Spain (@TheLocalSpain) October 1, 2017

The incident was not isolated, with reports that police were forcing their way into schools across the region.

At the Escuela Cervantes on Sant Pere Més Baix in Barcelona, crowds had begun forming outside the building since 5am.

“A lot of people were waiting around the school and they’ve been trying to vote since 8 am,” Marc Carrasco, 46, a voting office told The Local. “The police tried to block the roads and slowly try to move people away from the small safe part of the street they were in, they must have realised it would take the whole morning to do so, so they ended up jumping through the fence with shotguns and stuff.

“I feel shaken. We managed to open the gates so people could come in and help us, we rushed to the inside and locked ourselves in but they broke open the door and came in and took the ballot box.”

Crowds try and prevent police vans from closing in on the polling station. Photo: Daisy Bata

Between 20 and 30 members of the national police forced their way into a polling station at Jaume Balmes High School, north west of the city center.

Spain’s central government representative in Catalonia on Sunday strongly criticised the region’s police force for not closing polling stations to block an independence referendum deemed illegal by
Madrid.

“Catalan police officers were ordered to block the illegal referendum and to prevent polling stations from opening, but unfortunately this was not the case in the majority of cases. Politics has prevailed over professionalism,” Enric Millo said.

It was up to officers from Spain’s national police and Guardia Civil force “to act” to seize ballot boxes and voting papers and close polling stations, he added.

“The sole objective of today’s operation has been to ensure that this illegal referendum does not take place and the Spanish and Catalan people can continue to live in peace and liberty as they have these past 40 years,” Millo said.

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont managed to vote on Sunday, despite a police crackdown on polling stations.

READ ALSO: Ten facts about Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont

The regional government tweeted photos of Puigdemont casting his ballot in Cornella del Terri in the province of Girona, a different place from where he was initially supposed to vote.

Source:Thelocal.es