Fifty-two people were arrested in Barcelona following unrest that broke out after general strike mobilizations, Ara.cat reported.
Six of the detained individuals are minors, according to Catalan police figures released after the demonstrations. Núria Parlon, the Catalan interior minister, called the downtown clashes completely unacceptable during a joint press briefing with regional police leaders.
Parlon criticized the young individuals who carried out the violence, describing their actions as aggressive and sinister. She said that such behavior has no place in society and promised that the full weight of the law will fall upon those responsible.
The interior minister also asserted that the detained suspects have no connection whatsoever to Blocus, the movement behind looting incidents in central Barcelona on October 24, Ara.cat reported. Arrested individuals averaged 24 years of age, facing charges of assault, attacks on authority, public disorder, and robbery with force.
Sílvia Catà, chief commissioner of the Mossos d’Esquadra, attributed the violence to anti-system radical groups seeking to generate chaos and fear during the strike. Police recorded 36 injured officers during the operations, with seven remaining on medical leave.
Catà detailed new tactics deployed by participants, including launching pyrotechnics horizontally from PVC tubes directly at police lines. Officers also confiscated several Molotov cocktails during the confrontations.
Parlon said that she missed explicit condemnations of the nocturnal unrest from labor organizations, specifically calling out the Tenants’ Union. She urged the group to denounce the reprehensible street acts.
“Si no condemnem la violència i l’associem al fet que és fruit de la ràbia, tindrem molt més problemes”, Parlon told Ara.cat, warning that normalizing attacks on police lines damages legitimate mobilization efforts.
