Groups of young people, mostly hooded, smashed shop windows and burned bins in central Barcelona after the general strike demonstration ended. The Mossos d'Esquadra currently report eight arrests.
According to infobae.com, on the afternoon of 11 November, the protests from the general strike ended with damage in central Barcelona. The incidents concentrated at the tail end of the main march, when dozens of hooded youths broke away from the peaceful route and began acting on their own.
The Mossos d'Esquadra have so far arrested eight people for these events. This is in addition to two previous arrests made in Barcelona during the day for burning bins and assaulting law enforcement officers.
The largest demonstration gathered over 55,000 people according to the Guardia Urbana, while the organisers raised the figure to 400,000. It started from Paseo de Gracia and reached Plaça de Catalunya. A second march, with around 10,000 participants according to the organisers, ended on Via Laietana.
During the march, there were no incidents, but at the end of the main march, the situation changed. At the junction of Paseo de Gracia with Gran Vía and around Plaça de Catalunya, the youths broke the windows of several shops, including one of H&M. In some cases, they had removed the protective panels that the businesses had installed beforehand.
Several of those shops had suffered damage just days earlier during protests called by the Blocus platform. Now the damage was repeated in the same area, with the addition of a fire next to the entrance of the Apple store in Plaça de Catalunya.
In the surroundings, they burned bins and litter containers and erected barricades with bicycles, construction fences, and urban furniture, which they set on fire. In some areas, there were clashes with shopkeepers and residents, who reproached them for their actions.
The Mossos d'Esquadra established a police cordon that blocked access between the end of Paseo de Gracia and Plaça de Catalunya. They issued warnings that they would begin to charge if the disturbances did not cease. A group even fired fireworks at the cordon, which was formed by dozens of riot police and several vans circulating through the centre.
The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, spoke out on the social network X. He stated that violence and vandalism do not represent those who protested peacefully throughout the day.
“Neither violence nor vandalism represent the people who have peacefully demonstrated today throughout the day.”
Illa reminded that in Catalonia “those who do it, pay for it” and expressed his support for the Mossos d'Esquadra and the security forces working to restore order. His final message summarised the stance of the Catalan Government.
“Protest is legitimate, violence is not.”
For the residents and shopkeepers in the centre, the police cordon and traffic cuts around Plaça de Catalunya and Paseo de Gracia marked the afternoon. Police teams continue to work to identify those responsible for the damage.
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