Barcelona (CNN)Spain is facing a political crisis after Catalans voted for independence in a contested referendum that descended into violence when police cracked down on polling booths, injuring hundreds.
The Catalan government said late Sunday it had earned the right to independence from Spain after preliminary results showed 90% of respondents were in favor of a split, though turnout was relatively low.
Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said that the vote was illegitimate.
"At this point, I can tell you very clearly: Today a self-determination referendum in Catalonia didn't happen," he said in a televised speech.
Some 844 people were injured as riot police raided polling stations, dragged away voters and fired rubber bullets during clashes Sunday -- scenes that reverberated across Europe.
The Catalan government blamed Madrid for the police heavy-handedness and called on the European Union to respond.
"I want to make clear that all responsibility, all violence acts, repression is exclusively on the government of Rajoy, " the region's Minister of Foreign Affairs Raül Romeva said.
"Today Europe has to choose, shame or dignity. Violence or democracy, this is our demand. With this demand, we begin to work for a response to these circumstances. The absence of a response would suppose a lack and loss of credibility to the EU and its institutions."
Catalonia's separatist government pushed forward with the vote despite opposition from Madrid and a ruling from the country's top court declaring it illegal.
Catalan nationalists argue the region is a separate nation with its own history, culture and language, and that it should have increased fiscal independence.
Catalan govt: 'Democracy won'
Catalan's government said that despite the attempts at voter suppression, "today democracy won."
"It has been a long day, a day of emotions, a hard day, of material damages and personal injuries," government spokesperson Jordi Turull said
Of 2.2 million ballots counted so far, about 90% were in favor of independence, Turull said in a news conference shortly after midnight. Some 15,000 votes are still pending, Turull said.
Turnout in Catalonia, which has 5.3 million total eligible voters, would have been higher if not for suppression at the polls by Spanish national police, Turull said. Up to 770,000 votes were lost as a result of the polling station crackdowns, the Catalan government estimated Monday.
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