Mossos on alert for new disturbances called in Barcelona this Saturday

The Minister of Interior, Núria Parlon, and the leadership of the Mossos d'Esquadra are preparing a device to contain the new calls for disturbances expected in Barcelona on Saturday, October 31.

The 133 arrests made following the disturbances on Saturday, October 24 have put the Catalan police on alert. Of these, 85 correspond to minors, a fact that the Minister of Interior has used to highlight the profile of those involved.

The Minister Núria Parlon appeared this Wednesday before the Interior Commission of the Parlament to explain what happened. According to her words, the behaviour was

"totally anomalous"

due to its level of virulence and the high participation of adolescents. Both she and the chief commissioner Sílvia Catà agreed in describing a "new phenomenon of youth violence" that is organised through digital platforms.

Parlon also made an appeal to families:

"We call on families to take responsibility for the content their children consume on social media."

According to the leadership of the Mossos, monitoring of social media began four days before the event. It was assigned an intermediate risk level, 2 out of 3, and 400 officers were mobilised. The director of the Catalan police, Ferran López, admitted that they failed to gauge the aggressiveness of the attendees, as the call went from digital rumour to real threat in a very short time.

Catà explained that the disturbances were coordinated in two Telegram groups called Blocus Barcelona, which managed to gather more than 2,000 users before being shut down. According to police sources, these chats incited crimes such as the assault on jewellery stores and tech establishments, the burning of containers to build barricades, or confrontations with patrols.

In the Parlament, the opposition was not satisfied. Junts formally requested Parlon's resignation, while Esquerra Republicana and PP questioned the prior planning. Vox focused on the foreign origin of some of those involved, and los Comuns called for accountability regarding the digital platforms that spread these messages.

For the people of Barcelona, next week means a visible reinforcement of officers in the city centre and a potential disruption of commercial life in the area. The Mossos have not yet detailed the specific deployment for Saturday, October 31.