Move follows campaign led by seven people who were hit by rubber bullets and each lost an eye in Barcelona

A ban on the use of rubber bullets by the police force in Catalonia comes into force on Wednesday following a campaign led by seven people who each lost an eye on the streets of Barcelona.

The latest victim, Ester Quintana, 42, was hit by a rubber bullet during a general strike in November 2012. Her pressure group Ojo con tu Ojo, along with Stop Bales de Goma, mounted the campaign after seeing its efforts for justice fail in the Spanish courts.

The European parliament and the United Nations have both urged an end to the use of rubber bullets, which have not been used in the UK since the worst of the Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. But in Catalonia, usage has increased along with the number of street protests and strikes due to the Spanish economic crisis. Catalonia has one of the highest per capita number of police officers in Europe, with 5.05 per 1,000 citizens, compared with 2.6 in England and 2.99 in Germany.

A Rubber Bullet. Nicola Tanno was hit by a rubber bullet during the Spanish celebration of the 2010 World Cup in Barcelona and lost an eye. Photograph: Jordi Ruiz Cirera for the Guardian

Campaigners called into question the use of the weapon, which by law should not be fired from a distance of less than 50 metres or hit above the knee. Witnesses declared in court that police shot Italian Nicola Tanno directly in the face from 30 metres away in Barcelona's Plaza España during the celebration of Spain's World Cup victory in 2010. Aged 25 at the time, Tanno lost an eye and had a brain haematoma that almost caused his death. Three others lost an eye in street celebrations on Las Ramblas after Barcelona's Champions League victory against Manchester Unitedin 2009.

With the help of social media, victims were able to find video evidence in which vans and policemen could be recognised, to show the court that police were present at the time they received their injuries.

Campaigners argue that as police enjoy impunity from prosecution, they have the freedom to act without facing the consequences of those actions. They accuse the police of using a strategy of fear indicative of a repressive state to quell protests. According to victim Carles Guillot: "When the enemy of the state is everyone and they treat the population as insurgents, they become insurgents."

Though rubber bullets have been banned, police are still able to use sound and water cannon, while a new weapon is also being introduced which has a foam bullet and affords the shooter better control over its direction. The same weapon is being used in France, where it has led to two people losing an eye.

• This article was amended on 20 April 2014 to correct the date in the image caption.