News crews looking for action, for big demonstrations or clashes, were reduced to filming pigeons flapping around in the Plaça de Catalunya.
After being granted unprecedented powers by the Spanish Senate, the central Government, published lists of Catalan officials, alongside their advisers, who were being fired.
The chief of the Catalan regional police, Josep Lluís Trapero, who is being investigated by Spanish prosecutors for defying legal orders, was among the officially dismissed.
In all, more than 140 Catalans were told they no longer hold positions of power.
The Catalan Parliament was dissolved by order of Spain, and new elections were scheduled for December 21 in the well-to-do region of northeast Spain, riven by emotional divisions between pro-independence sentiment and the desire of those who want to remain in Spain.
Catalonia's separatist politicians mostly stayed out of sight, declining requests for media interviews and avoiding public appearances.
Phone calls and emails to Catalan officials went unanswered or were off the record.
One exception was the restrained three-minute statement by the ousted President, Puigdemont, which aired on the region's public broadcaster but was recorded earlier.
Puigdemont said the people should continue to defend their new republic peacefully and "with a sense of civic responsibility". He decried Spain's takeover and called it "a premeditated attack on the majority will of Catalans". But he offered nothing about what comes next. The night before, Puigdemont tweeted: "Catalonia is and will be a land of freedom. At the service of people. In the difficult moments and at the moments of celebration. Now more than ever."
After a night when a third of the region partied and a third slammed its shutters, people in the street were as divided as ever - between supporters of independence, opponents who view secession as a historic blunder and the many in the middle who aren't really sure. Even among those whose hearts felt pride and joy upon hearing a new republic declared, their heads sensed that Catalonia was not really a sovereign state.
Joaquim Bayo, 87, a retired salesman, said he had already heard nervous jokes about when Spain will send tanks into the Barcelona streets.
"Look, we're not such revolutionaries. We will have to wait. So, they announced a new republic. Good! If you look at history, we had one republic that lasted three years, one that lasted three days. Let's see how long this one lasts."
Bayo said: "Catalans don't have the tools or the strength to pull this off. The bigger and stronger always wins.
José Zaragoza, 54, a businessman, said, "Today I woke up very happy, the first day of the republic, which was chosen in a legal way - by politicians chosen in legal way, backed by a legal referendum."
Javier del Valle, 33, a computer engineer, said: "A lot of my family, who don't believe in independence for Catalonia, think this is all a lot of nonsense. My work mates who are pro-independence, I don't think they see Catalonia as a new nation, but view the declaration as a symbolic gesture and part of a strategy to achieve a political goal."
Ricard Valls, 22, is a university student who hopes for an independent Catalan republic someday. But he is doubtful the region's leaders can pull it off now.
"It makes me sad for the people who truly believe this will happen."
