The Mossos d'Esquadra attribute the disturbances to radical and anti-system groups. The balance leaves 52 arrested and 36 agents injured, seven of them off work.
The Mossos d'Esquadra attribute the incidents on Wednesday in Barcelona to "radical and anti-system movements" that, according to the chief commissioner, Sílvia Catà, were only looking to generate chaos and fear. Catà has warned of the use of Molotov cocktails and high-powered fireworks by the rioters.
The day began normally. According to the commissioner, three columns of demonstrators marched along Paseo de Gràcia and Paseo de Lluís Companys, and all did so peacefully, although only two were communicated. Problems began around seven in the evening, when the march was called off and about 57,000 people remained gathered in Plaza de Cataluña.
From that moment on, "serious incidents" occurred affecting several businesses in Plaza Universidad, Plaza de Urquinaona, Paseo de Gràcia, and Plaza de Cataluña. Catà has distanced those acts from the mobilisations for the right to strike.
The agents seized high-powered fireworks, homemade devices known as MacGyver, Molotov cocktails, and balaclavas. Two minors were arrested in the first interventions with two of those cocktails. Additionally, explosive devices were found inside the Apple and H&M stores in the city centre.
The violence was also directed at the police line. According to the police, some rioters were launching rockets from horizontal PVC tubes while others were using complete pyrotechnic batteries. The result is 36 mossos injured, seven of whom are off work. Catà also reported that plainclothes officers attempting to stop a violent group were withdrawn by the Brigada Mòbil because they were being assaulted.
The operation resulted in 52 arrests: 46 adults, 32 men and 14 women, and six minors, all male. The average age is 24 years. They are charged with injuries, assaulting law enforcement officers, public disorder, and theft with force.
Among those arrested is a repeat minor who had already been detained during the disturbances on October 24 linked to the Blocus phenomenon, and who had a restraining order from the protests. According to the commissioner, the rest of the detainees are not related to that phenomenon. During the early morning, two more arrests were added: one for burning a container near Plaza de Cataluña and another for causing damage in Park Güell.
The Interior Minister, Núria Parlon, has defended the actions of the Mossos and lamented that the incidents overshadowed the peaceful mobilization. Parlon maintains that the operation was prepared and that the police acted with restraint at many moments, as there were still peaceful demonstrators in the areas of the disturbances.
"All they did was vandalism"
Núria Parlon, Interior Minister
Parlon described those responsible as "a bunch of petty criminals" and warned that such behaviour is "completely unacceptable". For the people of Barcelona, the centre, Plaza de Cataluña, and Paseo de Gràcia have been the scene of the night, with affected businesses and disrupted traffic.
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