Pepper spray in numbers: Mossos d'Esquadra will make record use in 2025

BarcelonaDuring the protests for Palestine this October, the use of pepper spray by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) caused a stir. OC spray is a tool that the police force had previously used only on rare occasions.And during those days it was used in various situations. It was even used against protesters sitting on the ground near Barcelona's Sants station, just minutes after the protest began. For all these reasons, ERC, Comuns, and the CUP demanded that the Catalan government make the usage protocol public and requested the appearance of the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, before the Catalan Parliament. Now, this newspaper has been able to quantify the increase in its use that was noted at the time. According to data provided by the Ministry of the Interior through a transparency request, the Catalan police have used pepper spray seven times so far in 2025, six of them in October. Before that, since its first use in 2019, and despite having regulations in place since 2013, it had only been used in three circumstances. Of the seven uses this year, six were concentrated in operations for the pro-Palestinian demonstrations this October. The Catalan Police Directorate General claims to have used OC spray twice on Friday, October 3, the second day of protests against Israel's raid on the Gaza flotilla in international waters, and once on October 4, the day of that week's main demonstration. A few days later, during the general strike for Palestine, the Mossos d'Esquadra riot police sprayed protesters with the product on three separate occasions, according to police records. One of these incidents occurred during a sit-in at Sants station, where protesters were attempting to prevent the bus carrying the Israeli basketball team Hapoel Jerusalem from leaving for Manresa for a game.

The other times the Catalan police have recorded using OC sprays were during the incidents at the Fuente de la Pólvora in Girona in April of this year, on the day of Carles Puigdemont's brief return and Salvador Illa's investiture, and during the eviction of the occupied buildings and social centers associated with the Barça-Madrid rivalry in December 2019. In all these circumstances, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) used them only once, unlike in the last month, when the police fired the spray more than once in a single day.

The data provided by the police regarding the use of pepper spray corresponds only to actions taken by the Mobile Brigade Area (BRIMO). Although the department indicates that the use of "smoke and tear gas devices and OC sprays" is "authorized" for both BRIMO and the Regional Operational Resources Area (ARRO) and the Special Intervention Group Area (AGEI), in a formal communication the police point out that "only the 'e' Area registers." Sources within the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) state that AGEI and ARRO do not usually need to use OC spray and say they do not recall any instance in which these two areas have used it.

No use during the sentencing and protests for Hasél

Despite being regulated since 2013, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) had not yet used it routinely. The police purchased it in 2019, just before the protests against the Catalan independence trial verdict, but did not use it then either. In fact, after this equipment was displayed as part of the police force's arsenal in the lead-up to the demonstrations, the head of communications for the Catalan Interior Ministry, Joana Vallès, was dismissed by Minister Miquel Buch, who called it a "communication error."

The increase in use during the last month is explained, according to police sources, by the fact that not since the protests against the imprisonment of rapper Pablo Hasél in 2021 have there been such moments of tension on the streets. However, back then the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) didn't use this tool either, despite having it available. Furthermore, it has now also been used in contexts where the "aggressive attitude" of the protesters, which instruction 16/2023 establishes as necessary for using the personal defense sprays available to the force, was not present.

A "less harmful" tool?

OC spray is a product made with natural pepper extract. It is sprayed as an aerosol and produces severe irritation and itching of the eyes, coughing, and a slight feeling of suffocation. The symptoms last between twenty minutes and half an hour. Police sources explain that pepper spray is a "less harmful" tool than foam bullets or batons. They even consider it preferable to techniques like the "onion puller," which can cause bruising, and point out that other police forces in Europe use the spray as a substitute for physical contact techniques much more frequently than in Catalonia.

However, several academic reports indicate that in some people, OC spray can cause effects on the mucous membranes or respiratory tract after exposure. This is also a concern raised by human rights organizations and some unions, who warn that under the premise of it being a less harmful tool than others, it could lead to the elimination of the negotiation process between protesters and police prior to physical force, thus limiting the right to protest.