Burned awnings, broken glass and looted shops, Barcelona wakes up after the chaos

Barcelona has slept one more hour, but the only thing the time change has brought to the city is an awakening of broken glass. In the surroundings of Plaza de Catalunya, the epicenter of the gathering of young people on social networks that led to riots, traces of the altercations from Saturday afternoon night could be seen this morning. There was more silence. The calm after the storm.

“We started protecting the stores at 7 in the morning,” explains Olman, in front of the Zara on Passeig de Gràcia. He had just passed in front of the Ray-Ban, which was looted, and had taken a photo of the broken window. The security guard waved his hand toward the empty counters. The hooded kids had taken a few glasses. It was not the only store of this kind that was the object of his desire.

The windows were also broken at Optica 2000 on Pelai Street. Just like in a shoe store next door or the Pandora store. On the other side, the Starbucks also woke up with its glass broken. And in Zurich, the waiter was preparing the tables for the first customers of the day, with one of the terrace awnings burned.

Now, more than the coffee, it was the branded sneakers that were the great obsession of the assailants, but the Foot Locker in the Plaza de Catalunya was still intact when the sun rose, very well protected with wooden planks. Not far from there, a police patrol stood guard at the PcComponentes store, looted during the riots. Radio and television stations broadcast from there in live connections.

Tourists and curious people did not stop taking photos. Early in the morning, they walked the streets of the center of Barcelona, ​​mobile in hand, as if it were a photographic safari. Others, carrying their suitcases, hurried to catch the bus to the airport in front of El Corte Inglés. The canopies of the Aerobus stops are all in pieces. Also some from TMB, like on Passeig de Gràcia. Yes, it was a night of broken glass, although there could have been many more if the businesses had not lowered their blinds or protected themselves in time.

“It was terrible,” exclaims Olman. At that moment, his partner Isaías joins the conversation. Both are part of the team that dedicated itself to shielding the three Zara stores in the center from early in the morning. “It has been impressive,” confirms his compadre. The last branch they protected was the one on Pelai Street. They worked against the clock and finished when it was already dark and the young looters were on top of them. Olman shows a photo where they can be seen. A graphic document that you will surely save to explain it.

“Nothing will happen to them, they come in today and leave tomorrow and many are minors,” says Isaías, “and the costs of the damage are for the owners.” To assemble the large structure that protects the store windows takes about four hours, as they explain, and between five and eight workers. Some are even double. If this continues, there will be no shortage of work for them. “And now a strike will come soon,” recalls Isaías.

“They are copying what happened in France,” says the worker, trying to find some explanation for the violence unleashed by young people to try to loot stores. At that moment, a cleaning stroller comes down the sidewalk of Passeig de Gràcia, followed by several street sweepers. It will be difficult to clean up the traces of the riots. At least, from the collective memory of the city of Barcelona.