Crackdown in Catalonia as Spain tries to halt independence vote

Pro-referendum supporters clash with members of the Spanish National Police after police tried to enter a polling station to retrieve ballot boxes.

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.

Spanish National Police clash with pro-referendum supporters in Barcelona.

Pro-independence supporters cover a mock ballot box with Estelada Catalan flags in Pamplona, northern Spain.

Spanish National Police clash with pro-referendum supporters in Barcelona.

People play games in a square where a giant pro-independence Estelada Catalan flag is displayed.

People help a man injured by a rubber bullet fired by Spanish police officers outside the Ramon Llull polling station in Barcelona.

Pro-referendum supporters embrace as Spanish National Police try to remove them from the Ramon Llull school in Barcelona.

People queue to vote at a school in Barcelona.

A woman casts her vote at a polling station in Barcelona.

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.

A protestor shouts as he holds a Catalan flag during a demonstration called by far-right groups in Barcelona.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, center, arrives to inspect a sports hall as police interve in Girona, Spain. Puigdemont condemned “indiscriminate aggression” against peaceful voters.

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.

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.

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, 2017. 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.

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, Sunday, October 1, 2017.

People attend a demonstration against a referendum on independence for Catalonia on Sunday, October 1, 2017 in Madrid, Spain.

A woman casts her vote in a ballot at a polling station in Barcelona, on Sunday, October 01, 2017, during a referendum on independence for Catalonia.

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, Sunday, October 1, 2017. 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.

A woman celebrates outside a polling station after casting her vote in Barcelona, on October 01, 2017, in a referendum on independence for Catalonia.

Civil guards clear people away from the entrance of a sports center, designated a polling station by the Catalan government and where Catalan President Carles Puigdemont had been expected to vote, in Sant Julia de Ramis, near Girona, Spain, Sunday, October 1, 2017.

Family members comfort each other after they were unable to vote in the referendum after Spanish police closed their polling station on Sunday, October 1, 2017 in Sant Julia de Ramis, Spain.

People wait at the doors of the Moises Broggi school to start voting during the Catalan independence referendum in Barcelona, Spain on Sunday, October 1, 2017.