Barcelona to charge families €36,000 for damages

Barcelona City Council estimates the cost of damaged urban furniture during the unrest last Saturday at €36,000. The mayor has warned that the parents of the minors involved will have to cover the bill.

The damages caused by the unrest on Saturday in Barcelona will amount to €36,000 according to the technical assessment by the Barcelona City Council. This figure includes the urban furniture that was burned and destroyed in the city centre.

In a radio interview, the mayor, Jaume Collboni, updated the tally of the incidents. Security forces have made 128 arrests, and 56% of those arrested are minors.

For this reason, the mayor believes that the families of these minors should be held financially responsible. He explained that it will be the parents who will bear the cost of the damages to public property.

“Senseless violence,” in Collboni's words, who has distanced it from any legitimate protest.

For the council, the disturbances did not arise spontaneously. According to ongoing investigations, the mobilization was organized on social media, particularly on TikTok, and authorities are trying to identify who initiated the calls.

The mayor called for an analysis of who celebrates such violent episodes to determine what sectors or interests may be behind the street unrest. Investigations are still open to establish whether there was prior coordination to disrupt public order.

For local residents, the repair of public space will fall on the material authors of the damages and, in the case of minors, on their legal guardians, and not on the taxpayers as a whole.