That night, crowds cheered as they were told that they “gained the right” to secede from Spain, after 90% of voters backed secession.
But yesterday, the party was over, leaving open the question: Can it really happen?
“I’m not clear if independence is a real alternative, we will have to be good at negotiating - but not with this government,” Pilar, a 61-year-old former teacher, said after casting her “yes” vote.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has been a hated figure for Catalans seeking independence since 2010, when, as opposition leader, he led a challenge against a statute granting Catalonia more autonomy.
At his request, the Constitutional Court clipped the statute.
On Sunday, Rajoy again did little to endear himself to secessionists: At the end of a violent day in which Spanish police stood accused of injuring more than 800 people while trying to stop the referendum,
Rajoy thanked officers and said the state “did what [it] had to do.”
In response, Catalan President Carles Puigdemont promised to forward referendum results to the Catalan parliament “in the coming days” so “that it may implement” a law that obliges it to declare independence within 48 hours of a “yes” victory.
But the legitimacy of such a move is dubious, to say the least.
Putting aside the issue of the validity of a ballot that took place in defiance of the Spanish constitution, with no certified procedures and under police duress, its result was far from unequivocal.
Catalan authorities said 2.26mn votes were cast, and with 95% of votes counted, about 90% backed independence.
However, turnout was only 42% - which makes it hard to say that the majority has spoken.
“This was not a referendum but a plebiscite, representing the preference of about 40% of Catalans,” said Francisco de Borja Lasheras, head of the Madrid office of the European Council of Foreign Relations, a think tank.
Referendum organisers bristle at such criticism, claiming that 700,000 people were denied a vote by police raids on ballot stations.
Had the raids not happened, they argue, the turnout would have risen to 55% - though it’s near impossible to prove that statement.
Nevertheless, even accepting that Catalan independence is a loud, but minoritarian, movement, its capacity to mobilise millions of people is real.
A referendum in which many people could be seen crying as they cast their votes proved that, if nothing else.
“You cannot leave to judges, prosecutors and police the solution of political problems,” an editorial in the pro-union, Barcelona-based La Vanguardia newspaper said yesterday, as it criticised Rajoy’s failure to negotiate on Catalan autonomy demands.
According to Borja Lasheras, the solution would be “an ambitious constitutional reform, including a specific recognition of Catalan nationhood [within Spain] and granting it more home rule, including tax powers.”
But, he argued, a dialogue is practically impossible because Catalan leaders want “independence or nothing” and will force Madrid “to come down even harder” against them, with their arrest and the suspension of Catalan self-government among the options.