Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria praised the actions of Spanish police in cracking down on Catalonia's independence referendum. "They have fulfilled the orders of justice. They have acted professionally and in a proportional and proportionate manner. The aim of their actions were not people but electoral material. They always wanted to protect rights and freedoms," she told reporters.

However, Catalan President Carles Puigdemont accused Spain of using "irresponsible and unjustified" violence. The batons, rubber bullets and violence used by Spanish police to prevent voting in what Spanish authorities have said was an illegal referendum had shown a "dreadful external image of Spain", he said.

IBTimes UK presents 40 powerful images of Catalonians voting for self-determination, and Spain's attempts to stop them doing so.

Catalonia independence referendum
A man faces off Spanish Civil Guards outside a polling station for the banned independence referendum in Sant Julia de Ramis, a village in Girona province, where Catalan President Carles Puigdemont was due to vote Juan Medina/Reuters
Catalonia independence referendum
Catalonia independence referendum
A man wearing a shirt with an Estelada (Catalan separatist flag) and holding carnations faces off with a Spanish Civil Guard officer outside a polling station in Sant Julia de Ramis, a village in the Girona area (Photos: Albert Gea/Reuters, David Ramos/Getty Images)
Catalonia independence referendum
Catalonia independence referendum
Members of the public remonstrate with police as they move in on the crowds gathered a polling station in Sant Julia de Ramis (Photos: Lluis Gene/AFP, David Ramos/Getty Images)
Catalonia independence referendum
Catalonia independence referendum
Spanish Civil Guard officers smash the door of a polling station in Sant Julia de Ramis, where the Catalan president was supposed to vote (Lluis Gene/AFP)
Catalonia independence referendum
Catalonia independence referendum
Spanish police clash with people outside a polling station in Tarragona (David Gonzales/Reuters)
Catalonia independence referendum
Catalonia independence referendum
People applaud as voters leave a polling station after casting their votes in Barcelona (Photos: Josep Lago/AFP)
Catalonia independence referendum
Catalonia independence referendum
People applaud as voters leave a polling station in Barcelona (Photos: Josep Lago/AFP, Pau Barrena/AFP)
Catalonia independence referendum
Catalonia independence referendum
Crowds of people are locked out of a polling station at a school in Barcelona (Photos: Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
Catalonia independence referendum
Protesters perform a fascist salute during a demonstration called by far-right groups against the Catalonian independence referendum in Barcelona Pau Barrena/AFP

Spanish riot police burst into polling stations across Catalonia, confiscating ballot boxes and voting papers to try to halt the banned referendum on a split from Spain. Police broke down doors to force entry into voting stations as defiant Catalans shouted "Out with the occupying forces!" and sang the region's anthem. In one incident in Barcelona, police fired rubber bullets.

Catalan officials said 465 people had been injured, some critically, 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. The referendum, declared illegal by Spain's central government, has thrown the country into its worst constitutional crisis since the Fascist dictatorship of General Franco and deepened a centuries-old rift between Madrid and Barcelona.