“Who was there when the police came? All of us here,” says one pro-referendum supporter in his twenties, pulling back his hair to show a fresh two-inch cut at the top of his head.

The cut in question, he insists, came courtesy of a police truncheon during a charge outside the polling station a few hours before.

Standing in a group of half a dozen lookouts outside the school gates in Girona, where hundreds of people are patiently waiting to vote, the man recounts: “They blocked off the people outside the gate, including me. Then they started firing in the air, constantly. I don’t know how many of them there were; maybe about five or six vans of Spanish national police.

“Then they started pulling people away from the gates, people who weren’t doing anything, and after three quarters of an hour they saw that they weren’t getting anywhere closer inside, so they decided to charge.

“We were scared, but we knew why we were there so we weren’t going away. They finally got in through the door, and they didn’t find a single urn. They were somewhere else. One of the police was so angry when that happened that his own colleagues were telling him to calm down. Finally, they went away.

“It was brutal, and it’s not just happening here,” he adds.

At that moment, another pro-referendum supporter tells the young man in Catalan: “The police are coming back here at seven.”

Catalonia referendum protests – in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Catalonia referendum protests – in pictures Catalonia referendum protests – in pictures Demonstrators block a Guardia Civil vehicle as they try to leave the Department of External Affairs, Institutional Relations and Transparency of the Catalan Government office in Barcelona AP/Emilio Morenatti Catalonia referendum protests – in pictures Demonstrators react as they try to stop the car carrying Xavier Puig, a senior at the Department of External Affairs, Institutional Relations and Transparency of the Catalan Government office, after he was arrested by Guardia Civil officers in Barcelona AP/Emilio Morenatti Catalonia referendum protests – in pictures A demonstrator reacts as he tries with others to stop the car carrying Xavier Puig, a senior at the Department of External Affairs, Institutional Relations and Transparency of the Catalan Government office, after he was arrested by Guardia Civil officers in Barcelona AP/Emilio Morenatti Catalonia referendum protests – in pictures Spokeswoman of the Catalan pro-independence anticapitalist party "Candidatura d'Unitat Popular - CUP" (Popular Unity Candidacy), Ana Gabriel, talks to the media in Barcelona Josep Lago/AFP Catalonia referendum protests – in pictures Republican Left of Catalonia party's (ERC) Member of Parliament Joan Tarda (C) attends a demonstration outside the regional Economy Ministry in Catalonia during a police search for documents connected with the organisation of the Catalan independence referendum, in Barcelona EPA/Alejandro Garcia Catalonia referendum protests – in pictures A man holds pro-referendum poster next to a Spanish Civil Guard who stands in front of the Economy headquarters of Catalonia's regional government in Barcelona. The operation comes amid mounting tensions as Catalan leaders press ahead with preparations for an independence referendum on October 1 despite Madrid's ban and a court ruling deeming it illegal Josep Lago/AFP Catalonia referendum protests – in pictures People hold placards reading "Democracy" as they protest in front of the Economy headquarters of Catalonia's regional government in Barcelona AFP Catalonia referendum protests – in pictures A crowd of protesters gather outside the Catalan region's economy ministry after junior economy minister Josep Maria Jove was arrested by Spanish police during a raid on several government offices, in Barcelona Reuters/Albert Gea Catalonia referendum protests – in pictures People holding 'Esteladas' (Catalan pro-independence flags) attend a protest near the Economy headquarters of Catalonia's regional government Lluis Gene/AFP Catalonia referendum protests – in pictures People demonstrate on a Spanish Civil Guard Police car outside the Catalan Vice-President and Economy office as police officers holds a searching operation inside David Ramos/Getty Images

Elsewhere in another polling station in Girona, attempts were made to keep the police out, but they, too, failed to work out.

“We were told to form up in a line to stop the police from entering,” one woman in her forties, who briefly formed part of a pro-referendum committee on Girona’s outskirts, said. “To stand outside the polling station and hopefully they wouldn’t cross it.

“And then people were warning when the police were coming; they had a system organised watching for the vehicles.