Some online instructions reportedly set out how to make “cócteles molotov” and urged the use of weapons. The National Police say the channels directed activity linked to disturbances and looting, including the selection of locations and targets and the circulation of calls for disorder.
Officers arrested 18 people in the operation, including 13 minors. The suspects are alleged to have conspired to cause public disorder and commit property offences. Police also cite suspected membership of an organised group. The group comprises 16 men and two women, with varying alleged roles in planning, coordinating and spreading calls for action. The arrests took place across seven locations: four in Palma de Mallorca, four in Málaga, three in Valencia, three in Barcelona, two in Lleida, one in Bilbao and one in Sevilla.
The investigation began after disturbances in Barcelona on 24 October. Reuters reported that around 500 people took part in the unrest and that Catalan police recorded 132 arrests, including 83 minors and 49 adults. The disturbances affected at least 23 businesses, which were looted or vandalised, and firefighters attended 33 small fires. Police said investigators identified and disrupted online points where instructions were issued and locations and targets selected. The calls spread to Madrid, Málaga, Valencia, Bilbao and Mallorca, with activity linked mainly to Halloween night.
Provincial Information Brigades from Valencia, Bilbao, Málaga, Barcelona, Lleida, Mallorca and Sevilla took part under the coordination of the General Information Commissariat. The National Police said several cities were placed under tight security and that the disturbances unsettled residents and caused serious economic harm to shops. In a separate Barcelona security operation for Halloween night, police identified 1,440 people, filed 63 administrative reports over possession of items considered potentially usable to cause disorder or attack shops, and recorded three arrests. These were separate categories of police action. RUSSPAIN.COM has also covered a separate Spanish law-enforcement inquiry in its report on the Koldo case.
The police said the operation remained active, with officers continuing to trace and verify information to prevent further disturbances. Euronews reported that investigators had found online spaces where instructions for homemade incendiary devices were shared and where locations and targets were selected. The investigation remained open, and further arrests had not been ruled out, the report said.
