Interior calls for closure of Blocus chats before 31-O in Barcelona

The riots on Saturday in Barcelona left 130 detained, 74 of whom are minors. Councillor Núria Parlon demands WhatsApp and Telegram close the groups organising the gatherings.

According to moncloa.com, the riots on Saturday in Barcelona have left 130 detained, of which 74 are minors, according to the report from the Department of Interior of the Generalitat. Councillor Núria Parlon called on WhatsApp and Telegram this Monday to close the groups where the gatherings are organised and to cooperate in identifying those who promote them.

Parlon pointed to TikTok as the entry point for the call, disseminated with camouflaged identities and directing young people towards mass messaging groups. She made the comments in Manresa, with a date marked: Saturday 31 October. The Department speaks of sabotage, looting, and attacks on the police, not a demonstration, and announces "zero tolerance".

The Mossos d'Esquadra have called on the platforms to identify the promoters of the mass messages and close the groups that incite violence. In their view, the responsibility is not only of a dissemination channel but also of the tech companies.

The call, signed by an anonymous group called Blocus, spread with a QR code that led to chats with specific instructions: dress in black, cover your face, and bring pyrotechnic materials if possible. It also mentioned Madrid and other major cities, under a slogan about the quality of institutional education that references the French student movement Lycées Indignés.

The effect has already been felt outside the capital. The Mossos identified small groups of young people on Sunday in Granollers, in the Vallès Oriental, and in Girona, where similar gatherings were taking place. For residents of these cities, the risk is that the pattern will repeat on 31 October in several locations at once, right in the middle of Halloween night.

From a legal standpoint, the request to the platforms is for cooperation and not an order to close. According to the police's own approach, removing a group or providing the data of its administrators usually requires a court order, and the end-to-end encryption of WhatsApp and the fact that Telegram operates outside the European Union complicate the task. The Digital Services Regulation requires the removal of illegal content, although the limit is set by the Penal Code.

It should be noted that Barcelona already experienced similar scenes in February 2021, following the imprisonment of Pablo Hasél. The difference now lies in the scale of recruitment and the age of the participants. For central commerce, each episode of this type means theft with force, a damage that the official report already records.

The next point of attention has a date: Saturday 31 October, with a police deployment that Interior is preparing for several cities. Those living or working in the centre or in the municipalities of the metropolitan area should follow the official warnings from the Mossos d'Esquadra during that night.