The government of the autonomous Catalonia region of northeastern Spain will meet Monday to discuss the next steps in its plan to declare independence from Spain following a disputed referendum that saw more than 800 people injured in clashes with police.
Catalonia said preliminary results showed that 90% of the people who went to the polls Sunday favored independence.
Regional government spokesman Jordi Turull said 2.26 million people voted, a turnout of 42.02 million people voted for Catalonia to become an independent state, showing that a majority favor secession.
Spain insists the vote was was illegal and invalid.
Violence erupted shortly after polls opened, with video showing Spanish police firing rubber bullets, using batons and roughing up voters. Regional officials said 844 people were injured in clashes with police. Thirty-three police officers were also injured.
Catalan leaders accused Spanish police of brutality and repression while the Spanish government praised the security forces for behaving firmly and proportionately.
Catalan president Carles Puigdemont will chair the Cabinet meeting Monday, which is expected to consider asking the regional parliament to vote on an independence declaration later in the week.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, meanwhile, will meet with ruling Popular Party leaders before seeking a parliamentary session to discuss how to confront the country’s most serious crisis in decades.
More: More than 800 injured in Catalonia when Spanish police crack down on independence vote
Rajoy, in a televised address after the polls closed, declared there was no independence vote and called the referendum an “attack on the rule of law.”
Rajoy also thanked the police for acting with “firmness and serenity.” The Spanish government in Madrid had opposed the referendum, and Spain`s highest court earlier ruled to suspend the vote, but local authorities went ahead anyway.
In an editorial, the Spanish newspaper El Pais blamed the Catalan government for Sunday’s “shameful” events but also criticized the Spanish government for its inability to tackle the crisis since it began about seven years ago. The newspaper said the day was “a defeat for our country.”
So far, the European Union, the U. and most international bodies have backed Spain in its stance against Catalonia.
Catalonia, whose capital is Barcelona, represents a fifth of Span’s economy. Polls consistently show that while most of its 7.5 million inhabitants favored a referendum, they are roughly evenly split on independence from Spain.
Contributing: Braden Phillips and Jabeen Bhatti, The Associated Press
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