[8][9][10] Additionally, in early September the High Court of Justice of Catalonia had issued orders to the police to try to prevent the unconstitutional referendum, including the detention of various persons responsible for its preparation.

[28][29][30] On the other hand, most voters who did not support Catalan independence did not turn out,[31] as the constitutional political parties asked citizens not to participate in the illegal referendum to avoid "validation".

[32][33] Additionally, numerous cases of voters casting their votes several times or with lack of identification were reported, and the counting process and the revision of the census were not performed with quality standards ensuring impartiality.

[34][35] The days leading to the referendum witnessed hasty judicial fights, and the High Court of Justice of Catalonia eventually ordered police forces to impede the use of public premises for the imminent voting.

[45] The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, urged the Spanish government to investigate all acts of violence that took place to prevent the referendum.

[48][49] Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena stated Carles Puigdemont ignored the repeated warnings he received about the escalation of violence if the referendum was held.

Cristóbal Montoro, the Spanish Minister of the Treasury, assured that the ballot boxes were not paid for with public money and some media reported they were finally bought by an individual whose identity remains unknown.

[72] By April 2017, the Catalan government had already received 5 judicial notices warning about the criminal liabilities they were exposed to if they continued the preparation of the referendum, as the constitutional court previously declared illegal any official budget allocation.

[75] On 3 July 2017, President Puigdemont sacked his Minister for Enterprise, Jordi Baiget [ca; es], who, in the face of the legal challenges, had just expressed doubts regarding the referendum taking place as envisioned by the Catalan government.

[88] The Catalan government financed advertisement for the referendum in the regional public television and radio, in spite of a legal notice against such actions by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia.

Crowds gathered around the regional ministries to support the arrested staff and later on several pro-independence organisations, including the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural.

[93] A crowd of more than 40,000 people heeded the call made by Òmnium Cultural and ANC and surrounded the Catalan economy department, preventing the exit of the Civil Guard agents.

[95] Both Mossos d'Esquadra Major Josep Lluís Trapero Álvarez and Barcelona Intendant Teresa Laplana Cocera were charged with sedition because of the role played by the regional police.

[106] According to the judge the actions of Sànchez and Cruixat are into the scope of sedition, a felony regulated by the article 544 and subsequents of the Spanish Criminal Code:[94][107] Conviction for sedition shall befall those who, without being included in the felony of rebellion, public and tumultuously rise up to prevent, by force or outside the legal channels, application of the laws, or any authority, official corporation or public officer from lawful exercise of the duties thereof or implementation of the resolutions thereof, or of administrative or judicial resolutions.A video uploaded to Twitter shows Cuixart y Sànchez on top of one of the vandalized Guardia civil cars on that night saying "Above all... We ask that you dissolve this demonstration, as best as you can, very calmly, today, in a few minutes".

The speakers, including the pro-independence deputy Anna Gabriel, disobeyed the ruling and tried to hold the conference anyway, but the room where it was taking place was evicted by the police five minutes after starting.

[197][198] According to a Catalan newspaper, a volunteer declared that it was "a symbolic vote" in Ramon i Cajal school, Barcelona, after Spanish police removed the ballot boxes at another nearby polling station.

[27] The Civil Guard delivered a report to the Spanish High Court with recordings of conversations that allegedly demonstrate that "the results of the referendum were decided in the days leading up to its holding".

[211][212][213] This sparked a massive business exit in the ensuing hours, with companies such as Abertis, Gas Natural, Grifols, Fersa Energias Renovables, Agbar, Freixenet, Codorníu, Idilia Foods, San Miguel Beer and Planeta Group also announcing or considering their intention to move their HQs out of Catalonia.

The Spanish government announced on Friday 6 October that it would issue a decree allowing companies based in Catalonia to move out of the region without holding a shareholders' meeting.

[224] However, on 16 October 2017 the Foreign Ministry of Switzerland released a press note declaring that no formal offer was made, also stating that the independent aspirations in Catalonia are an internal affair of Spain and should be resolved within its constitutional order.

[233] Carles Puigdemont accused Spanish authorities of "unjustified, disproportionate and irresponsible violence" and showing a "dreadful external image of Spain"[226] while Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch criticized what they called "excessive and unnecessary use of force" by the National Police and the Civil Guard.

[241][242] A Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) councillor accused the police of deliberately breaking her fingers one by one and of sexual abuse during a polling station evacuation, but later investigation disproved these statements.

[252][253][254] The man injured by the rubber ball lost the vision in one eye and he sued 3 members of the Spanish National Police, adducing that one shot him directly to his face.

[266] [267] [268] The Catalan Health Officer is planning to sue the Partido Popular general coordinator, Mr Fernando Martínez-Maillo, for his qualification as a "great farce" of the total number of injured persons.

[269] On 19 February 2018, in the hearing for the injuries in the village of Castellgalí, a Guardia Civil policeman testified before the judge that he only found passive resistance, thus contradicting a Spanish police statement, which claimed that violence, kicks and spitting took place at that location.

Predrag Dukic, senior equity sales trader at CM Capital Markets Bolsa, wrote: "The independence movement seeks to paralyze the region with strikes, disobedience, etc., a nightmare scenario for what until yesterday seemed a strong Spanish economic recovery."

Markus Schomer, chief global economist at PineBridge Investments, suggested that the uncertainty both in and outside of Spain has made it hard to price the scenarios into final markets so far.

[288] On 16 January 2018, the Spanish Constitutional Court issued a temporary restraining order regarding the work of the Catalan Government commission that investigates the violation of fundamental rights in Catalonia.

[308] Several Catalan groups also composed songs specially dedicated to that day, including Agafant l'horitzó (Catching the horizon) by Txarango and Rojos y separatistas (Red and separatists) by Lágrimas de Sangre.

[309] Some international groups used images from the police violence during the day of the referendum in their concerts and music videos, including A Sound of Thunder and Steven Patrick Morrissey.