Barcelona Housing March Ends in 52 Arrests, 36 Officers Hurt
Riots after Wednesday's housing march in Barcelona led to 52 arrests and 36 injured officers, Catalan officials said. Crowd figures differ widely.
A housing march during Wednesday’s general strike in Barcelona was followed by riots in the city centre that left 52 people detained, 36 police officers injured and six shops looted, according to figures reported by 20minutos and elDiario.es. Firefighters put out 42 fires.
The march itself was peaceful until the evening. The disturbances began near Plaça Catalunya after the protest broke up, and the Catalan government and the organizers now read the day differently.
How the evening unfolded
El Correo reports that the march was called by the tenants’ union together with the unions UGT and CCOO. It filled the junction of Passeig de Gràcia and Diagonal from about 5:30 p.m. Marches also took place in Tarragona, Girona, Terrassa, Manresa and El Vendrell. In Barcelona, the Sindicat de Llogateres (Tenants’ Union), the main organizer, ended the march on its arrival at Plaça Catalunya and asked people to disperse.
The riots started shortly after 7:30 p.m., according to elDiario.es. Groups entered shops to loot them, threw fireworks and burned containers to make barricades. El Correo reported that hooded youths focused on the Apple store, where a fire broke out inside, and smashed windows at H&M, Geox and Victoria’s Secret.
The Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalonia’s police) formed a line to clear Ronda Sant Pere and charged after several warnings over loudspeakers. Barricades then appeared on Carrer Pelai, Ronda Sant Pere, the upper part of Rambla Catalunya and as far as Carrer Balmes.
The official count
- 52 people detained, six of them minors. Núria Parlon, the Catalan interior minister (consellera d’Interior), said two had also been arrested on Oct. 24 in the Blocus disturbances. Barcelona mayor Jaume Collboni also gave the figure of 52.
- 36 officers injured, seven of them currently on sick leave.
- 42 fires put out by the Bombers (Catalan firefighters), two of them inside shops, at Apple and H&M, where Molotov cocktails were also found.
- 10 businesses vandalized, six of them looted.
Parlon said almost two thousand Mossos officers were deployed in the city, and defended their response as measured.
Sílvia Catà, chief commissioner of the Mossos, called the use of fireworks and other material against officers very serious. She cited a PVC tube used as a cannon and a battery system that fired rockets at police. Most arrests were for injuries, attacks on authority, riots and violent robbery, she said, and she tied them to radical and anti-system groups that wanted to cause chaos and fear. She also separated the riots from Blocus, saying the detainees’ average age was 24.
Crowd size and competing readings
Estimates of the march differ widely. The Guàrdia Urbana (Barcelona’s municipal police) counted tens of thousands of people, according to elDiario.es, El Correo and 20minutos. The organizers say several hundred thousand.
Parlon called the strike peaceful and a success and said the violence was the work of 40 or 50 people. Catalan president Salvador Illa wrote on social media: “Protest is legitimate, violence is not.” Enric Aragonès, spokesperson for the tenants’ union, said less spectacular but harsher images appear every day of people being evicted from their homes, and that the image of the day should be a full Passeig de Gràcia defending the right to housing.
What this means for future protests
Parlon said the violence is a stain on the mobilizations that cannot be denied. She said police and organizers will have to coordinate better in future to prevent it. The march brought together the housing movement and labour unions on a general strike day, and the Guàrdia Urbana’s figure puts the turnout in the tens of thousands.
Sources: 20minutos, elDiario.es, El Correo
