Mossos d'Esquadra have arrested about 100 people over Saturday's unrest in central Barcelona. Around a quarter are minors. The disturbances forced shops to close and left shoppers trapped inside.
Fourteen shops in central Barcelona were vandalised and looted during Saturday's unrest, Catalonia's interior minister Núria Parlon said. The damage came during a youth protest that turned violent around Plaça de Catalunya. Calls for the gathering circulated on social media under the slogan “Institut Indignats,” an adaptation of the French “Lyceés Indignés” label.
The Mossos d'Esquadra and Barcelona's Guàrdia Urbana detained more than 100 people over their alleged connection to the disturbances. Around a quarter of those detained were minors; one report put the number at 27. The arrests relate to alleged participation in looting and vandalism, as well as setting fires or clashing with police. Parlon described the participants as unorganised and said the disturbances did not defend any right.
About 100 activists had gathered after calls circulated on social media. Parlon later estimated that around 500 to 600 young people were involved. The unrest began at about 18:00, and at 18:30 a group set out behind a banner opposing the system and calling for action by secondary-school students. A group of young people threw stones and flares at shop windows, prompting several businesses to close.
Street furniture was burned. Some protesters set fire to bus shelters and bins, as well as other containers, while others threw firecrackers and projectiles at officers who arrived in the area. Firefighters extinguished 33 separate fires in the city centre. More than 210 Mossos officers were deployed, including 30 members of the BRIMO riot-control unit; another report put the police operation at more than 220 officers. Shoppers were left inside stores after businesses shut their doors.
Barcelona's protest was separate from an earlier demonstration near a Vox rally in Maó, where police stopped activists after they passed several checkpoints, as reported in this Maó protest account. The Plaça de Catalunya disturbances were also distinct from a peaceful housing-related encampment that had occupied the square for weeks.
At 20:00, officers considered the situation under control. The initial account at that time reported no arrests or injuries; the later tally put arrests at more than 100. Barcelona mayor Jaume Collboni said the city would take legal action over the damage and that it would not go unpunished.
