At least 38 people were injured in Catalonia today as a result of clashes between protesters and police amid the referendum on the region's independence from Spain. <br/><br/>Spanish riot police fired rubber bullets and forced their way into activist-held polling stations as thousands flooded the streets to vote in an independence referendum banned by Spain's Central Government. <br/><br/>Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont condemned the action of federal police and said the unjustified use of violence by the Spanish state will not stop the will of the Catalan people. <br/><br/>The referendum has been declared illegal by Spain's central government in Madrid. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the vote goes against the constitution of Spain. <br/><br/>The referendum has also been ruled unconstitutional by the courts, and has vowed to stop it from taking place. <br/><br/>Voting started in the early morning at some sites in the region of 7.5 million people, which has its own language and culture and is an industrial hub with an economy larger than that of Portugal. <br/><br/>Thousands of local residents are standing in lines by the polling stations. Spain's interior ministry said police had closed most of the 2,315 polling stations across Catalonia.