The vandals of Barcelona: “radical anarchists” and “thugs”

Among the 52 arrested during the riots that took place in the center of Barcelona after the general strike demonstration that took place along Passeig de Gràcia, only 6 minors were included. This data contrasts with the result of the police operation on October 24 in the same scenario, the center of Barcelona. On that occasion, 79 of the 133 arrested had not reached the age of majority.

The Catalan political and police authorities have been quick to identify the 9/11 rioters as groups of young anarchist radicals well prepared for street fighting, as demonstrated by their intensive use of fire as a throwing weapon, with barricades protected by flames that reached three meters high.

The Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, defines the vandals in this latest episode of altercations as a group of "violent" and "aggressive" attitudes, "four rogue 'arreplegats' (unfortunate) who the only thing they did was vandalism."

Along the same lines, the chief commissioner of the Mossos d'Esquadra, Silvia Catà, considers them members of “radical, anti-system movements that all they want is to generate chaos and fear.”

Only two of those detained last night had already been arrested during the incidents organized through the Blocus platform on October 24. This is a minor who had a restraining order from demonstrations and an adult who has now been arrested again for public disorder and attacking a law enforcement officer.

The 46 adults detained this time are mostly men (32 and 14 women) and the minors are all boys. The average age of the 52 detainees is 24 years.

The protagonists of yesterday's incidents used - and this is new - high-power pyrotechnic material that they threw against the police cordon. They also use Molotov cocktails. Two of these devices were used on two minors.

In total, it is estimated that about 500 young people from “radical movements” participated in the riots, either actively or by chanting the actions of the most daring ones.

The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has spoken along the same lines as Núria Parlon and Sílvia Catà, defining the violent as members of “anti-system groups of anarchist and radical ideology that infiltrate demonstrations to commit criminal acts”, a classic of public disorder in Barcelona that has its origins a few decades ago.

Illa added that these radical groups feed on “populist approaches” that “manipulate the feelings of many citizens.”