Barcelona, Spain(CNN) Hundreds of thousands of Catalans have taken to the streets since last weekend's bitterly contested independence referendum to voice their support for a split from Spain.
The issue has divided opinion within the northeastern region, and the wider country.
Divisions in Spain over Catalonia crisis
Protesters march through Barcelona during a demonstration to support the unity of Spain on October 8. A bitterly contested independence referendum on October 1 has stoked fierce divisions in the northeastern region of Catalonia and across Spain.
Thousands of people gather in Barcelona to rally for unity in Spain on October 8.
Protesters hold Spanish flags during a demonstration against independence for Catalonia on October 8.
Demonstrators urge a peaceful dialogue to resolve the crisis over Catalan independence on Saturday, October 7, in Madrid, Spain.
Crowds raise their hands during a demonstration October 7 in Barcelona encouraging talks to ease tensions over independence. Catalan nationalists argue the region is a separate nation with its own history, culture and language. But many Catalans also oppose separatism from Spain.
People show their hands painted in white during a demonstration urging dialogue on October 7 in Madrid. Neither the Catalan regional government nor the national government in Madrid has been willing to give ground since the referendum.
A woman wears a sticker with the Spanish word for "peace" at a demonstration in Madrid on October 7.
Protesters with Spanish flags gather to demonstrate against independence for Catalonia in Madrid on October 7.
People attend a protest in Barcelona on Monday, October 2, a day after hundreds were injured in a police crackdown during the banned referendum. The Catalan government claimed victory after pushing forward with the vote despite Spain's Constitutional Court declaring it illegal.
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont greets regional government workers before a meeting at the Palace of the Generalitat in Barcelona on October 2.
Independence supporters gather in Barcelona after Catalonia's separatist government
held a referendum to decide if the region should split from Spain on Sunday, October 1.
A member of the Catalan National Assembly cries at the end of the voting day on October 1.
Spanish riot police remove fences thrown at them as they try to prevent people from voting in Barcelona, Spain, on Sunday, October 1.
Pro-referendum supporters clash with members of the Spanish National Police after police tried to enter a polling station to retrieve ballot boxes.
Pro-referendum supporters lock a gate to a polling station as members of the Spanish National Police arrive to control the area during voting at the Escola Industrial of Barcelona.
Spanish National Police clash with pro-referendum supporters in Barcelona.
Pro-independence supporters cover a mock ballot box with Estelada Catalan flags in Pamplona, northern Spain.
Spanish National Police clash with pro-referendum supporters in Barcelona.
People play games in a square where a giant pro-independence Estelada Catalan flag is displayed.
A woman celebrates after voting at a polling station in Barcelona on October 1.
People help a man injured by a rubber bullet fired by Spanish police officers outside the Ramon Llull polling station in Barcelona.
Pro-referendum supporters embrace as Spanish National Police try to remove them from the Ramon Llull school in Barcelona.
People queue to vote at a school in Barcelona.
A woman casts her vote at a polling station in Barcelona.
Spanish riot police shoot rubber bullets at people trying to reach a voting site designated by the Catalan government in Barcelona. The deputy mayor of Barcelona said police fired rubber bullets at people as they attempted to vote in the referendum, which Spain's top court has declared illegal. There were reports that police in Girona, Spain, used batons.
A protestor shouts as he holds a Catalan flag during a demonstration called by far-right groups in Barcelona.
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, center, arrives to inspect a sports hall as police interve in Girona, Spain. Puigdemont condemned "indiscriminate aggression" against peaceful voters.
A Spanish riot police officer swings a club against would-be voters near a school assigned to be a polling station by the Catalan government in Barcelona.
Riot police drag a member of the public away from a school being used as a polling station. Regional authorities said 337 people were injured after Madrid deployed the national police force to close down polling stations. Catalan emergency services confirmed the number to CNN.
People clash with Spanish National Police outside the Ramon Llull school, designated as a polling station by the Catalan government in Barcelona, Spain, early Sunday, October 1. Catalan pro-referendum supporters vowed to ignore a police ultimatum to leave the schools they are occupying to use in a vote seeking independence from Spain.
People try to offer flowers to a civil guard at the entrance of a sports center, assigned to be a referendum polling station by the Catalan government in Sant Julia de Ramis, near Girona, Spain, October 1.
People attend a demonstration against a referendum on independence for Catalonia on October 1 in Madrid, Spain.
A woman casts her vote in a ballot at a polling station in Barcelona, on October 01 during a referendum on independence for Catalonia.
Members of Spain's national police force clear people from a polling station where Catalan President Carles Puigdemont had been expected to vote, in Sant Julia de Ramis, near Girona, Spain on October 1. Catalan pro-referendum supporters said they would not comply with a police order to leave the schools they are occupying to use in a vote seeking independence from Spain.
A woman celebrates outside a polling station after casting her vote in Barcelona, on October 01 in a referendum on independence for Catalonia.
Family members comfort each other after they were unable to vote in the referendum after Spanish police closed their polling station October 1 in Sant Julia de Ramis, Spain.
People wait at the doors of the Moises Broggi school to start voting during the Catalan independence referendum in Barcelona, Spain on October 1.
Catalan nationalists argue the region is a separate nation with its own history, culture and language, and that it should have increased fiscal independence. But there are also many Catalans who oppose separatism.
Some pro-independence Catalans spoke to CNN in Barcelona on Friday about why they favor going it alone.
'Tired of subsidizing'
Henrique Aparici wants greater fiscal autonomy for Catalonia.
Retired industrial engineer Henrique Aparici, 74, said Catalonia -- a wealthy region -- was "tired of subsidizing practically the rest of Spain" while receiving no help from Madrid.
"Both sides are very angry. They don't want to talk, particularly Madrid does not want to talk. Here they are always with their doors open for dialogue, but I think this will end badly," he said.
Unless there is a U-turn, he said, the Spanish state "will annul the autonomy, more repression, more police forces and we will have a military intervention."
Aparici said the motivation for Catalonia's separatists has always been gaining greater fiscal autonomy.
"We're subsidizing Andalucia, we're subsidizing Extremadura, we're subsidizing, subsidizing, subsidizing ... and it comes a time where we don't feel like subsidizing any more. So the only thing that could happen here is that, by force, they make us carry on subsidizing," he said.
"This is what we wanted with the referendum, to know if we were the majority or not."
'They have made us angry'
Mireya Jimenez says Madrid's handling of the October 1 referendum has made Catalans angry.
Mireya Jimenez, 25, a journalism student, said the way the October 1 referendum was handled has hardened people's views in favor of independence. Hundreds of people were injured last weekend as police sent from Madrid tried to prevent the referendum going ahead.
"I didn't feel that repressed until what happened on October 1," she said. "I think a couple of years ago there were more people who didn't want it (independence), but after all that has happened, I think there are more people who want it.
"I don't think there is turning around. I think that whatever they do, they have made us angry, and I think we have seen that a ... part of Spain doesn't like us, the King doesn't like us either and so I think that, also because of how they've treated us just now, there is no turning back."
Jimenez said she doesn't feel represented by Spain because of its policies and the way it treats Catalans.
"I believe that by being independent we could ... manage ourselves better; we would have another kind of benefits that don't exist within Spain," she said.
'A better country'
Raul del Hoyo says he believes Catalonia has the potential to be a better country on its own.
Raul del Hoyo, 56, a logistics technician, said he feels Spanish as well as Catalan but believes in the region's bid for independence.
"We believe we have sufficient economic potential, social cohesion and initiative to be able to make a better country," he said.
"I'm very sad to have seen how the police took people who were only expressing or demonstrating, democratically, their right to vote, and their right to demonstrate on the street in order to achieve a political objective."
He said he believes there will be negotiations and that the two sides will find a solution that works for them both.
"There could be violence, but if there is violence, I am sure it will be institutional. Catalonia, for decades, not just now, for decades, has always demonstrated democratically its claims," he said.
"It's the part of the peninsula, or the part of Spain, that has always voted more in favor of Europe, of democratic values, of its anti-Franco struggle. It's a peaceful people, a people that organized itself around a set of values to grow more. We're not going against anything."
'They didn't listen to us'
Ana, a retiree, says she hopes for dialogue to resolve the situation peacefully.
Ana, who didn't want to give her last name for fear of repercussions, said Catalan independence is essential.
"We need to have it. So that all of us take everything that the state from Madrid takes from us," she said.
A 68-year-old retired administrative executive, Ana has been angered by the central authorities' treatment of Catalans in recent days.
"We've been very peaceful. They didn't listen to us and attacked the people, elderly people, children, very bad," she said.
"We hope that they engage in dialogue, that they talk and they fix this because we've never had an issue, between people who don't want independence and people who want it."
She said she hopes the recent tensions won't deter foreign visitors to Barcelona and the region, saying they will be welcomed with open arms.
CNN's Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this report.