Barcelona Erupts: Riot Police Clash With Youth Mob, Shops Looted
(MENAFN) Spanish police moved in on Saturday after a youth-organized protest in Barcelona descended into violence, with looting, street fires and running clashes in the city center.
Hundreds of young people dressed in black massed at Catalonia Square after a call to demonstrate spread on social media under the Catalan-language hashtag “Institut Indignats.” The campaign draws on the Lycees Indignes movement, which has driven student protests in France in recent weeks.
The situation deteriorated fast. Some demonstrators looted shops, torched trash containers and hurled stones and bottles at security forces, prompting police to step in.
Protesters scattered in groups after the intervention, and clashes erupted in side streets. Some people were injured and others were detained.
The unrest unfolded in the heart of the city, close to a tent camp set up several weeks ago to demand housing rights, and amid dense crowds of residents and tourists.
Barcelona’s municipal police, the Guardia Urbana, said several streets in the center were shut in the aftermath. Many shops pulled down their shutters to guard against damage.
Salvador Illa, president of the Catalan regional government, condemned the violence and vandalism.
“An attack, a threat or an act of causing damage is not a democratic right. Anyone who does this will pay the price,” Illa wrote on X.
He added that violence has no place in Catalonia and that nothing justifies it.
Hundreds of young people dressed in black massed at Catalonia Square after a call to demonstrate spread on social media under the Catalan-language hashtag “Institut Indignats.” The campaign draws on the Lycees Indignes movement, which has driven student protests in France in recent weeks.
The situation deteriorated fast. Some demonstrators looted shops, torched trash containers and hurled stones and bottles at security forces, prompting police to step in.
Protesters scattered in groups after the intervention, and clashes erupted in side streets. Some people were injured and others were detained.
The unrest unfolded in the heart of the city, close to a tent camp set up several weeks ago to demand housing rights, and amid dense crowds of residents and tourists.
Barcelona’s municipal police, the Guardia Urbana, said several streets in the center were shut in the aftermath. Many shops pulled down their shutters to guard against damage.
Salvador Illa, president of the Catalan regional government, condemned the violence and vandalism.
“An attack, a threat or an act of causing damage is not a democratic right. Anyone who does this will pay the price,” Illa wrote on X.
He added that violence has no place in Catalonia and that nothing justifies it.
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