What happens next after Catalan 'Yes' vote?

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Catalonia's regional leader opened the door to a unilateral declaration of independence from Spain on Sunday after police used batons and rubber bullets to disrupt a banned referendum in a show of force injured more than 800.

Around 2.26 million people had cast a ballot in a banned referendum to leave Spain, the Catalan government said, and 90 percent of them had voted in favor of secession.

The referendum has pitched the country into its deepest constitutional crisis in decades and deepened a rift between Madrid and Barcelona.

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"On this day of hope and suffering, Catalonia's citizens have earned the right to have an independent state in the form of a republic," Puigdemont said in a televised address.

The law of the referendum, deemed unconstitutional by Madrid, foresees a unilateral declaration of independence by the regional parliament of Catalonia if the majority votes to leave Spain.

Earlier in the day, the streets of Catalonia, an industrial and tourism powerhouse accounting for a fifth of the economy, erupted into violence as national police burst into polling stations with batons, dragging voters away.

‘We will vote’

Puigdemont, who governs Catalonia, said that "millions" had turned out to vote and urged the European Union to stop looking "the other way" following the police crackdown.

"I have to call directly on Europe," he said in a televised statement. "The European Union can no longer continue to look the other way."

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From early in the day, helmeted police armed with batons moved in en masse to seal off polling stations and seize ballot boxes, sparking clashes. Videos posted on social media showed police dragging voters from polling stations by their hair, throwing people downstairs and attacking Catalan firefighters who were protecting polling stations.

The euro fell around a third of a US cent after the violence-marred vote to as low as 1.1776 US dollars in early Asian trade but soon steadied at 1.1801 US dollars.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson voiced worries over the violence while backing Madrid's view that the vote was unconstitutional. But Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said force used by the police had been proportionate.

Why Catalans want an independence vote?

Although Catalans are divided over independence, most want to vote on the matter in a legal and binding plebiscite. Pro-separatist lawmakers in Catalonia have pushed for an independence referendum since September 2015 when they won a narrow majority in the region's parliament.

Although Catalonia already has significant control over education, healthcare and welfare, the region says it pays more in taxes than it receives from Madrid.

This has sparked resentment which has been further exacerbated by Spain's economic woes and helped push the secessionist cause. The Catalan government says independence would leave the region richer and more able to protect its language and culture.

Next step?

The referendum law foresees a declaration of independence within 48 hours of a 'Yes' vote. But it remains unclear what the regional government will actually do so, although whatever happens, the outcome will not be recognized by Madrid.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy ruled out independence and accused separatists of trying to "blackmail...the whole nation". He offered all-party talks on the region's future.

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Rajoy said the rule of law had prevailed in Catalonia because an independence referendum in the region prohibited by the courts had been blocked.

"Today there has not been a self-determination referendum in Catalonia. The rule of law remains in force with all its strength," he said in a televised address. Security forces "performed their duty" in Catalonia and respected a court order to prevent voting from taking place, he added in his first public comments on Sunday's banned referendum.

"It would have been easier for everyone to look the other way," the conservative prime minister said.

The referendum was a "real attack on the rule of law... to which the state reacted with firmness and serenity." "We have fulfilled our obligation, we have acted according to the law and only according to the law," he added.

Meanwhile, local newspaper La Vanguardia said tensions would endure beyond the vote as secessionist groups and trade unions in Catalonia had called a general strike for Tuesday.

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Source(s): Reuters