Riots at the UAB due to the presence of far-right activist Vito Quiles
The university claims it has not received any requests for the talk Quiles wanted to give and hundreds of protesters have tried to prevent it.
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BarcelonaFar from where he wanted to be, half-hidden, and pressured to leave. Far-right agitator Vito Quiles attempted to hold the event at the Autonomous University of Barcelona that he had announced days ago, for which the school had warned him he lacked authorization. The pro-espanyol group "Se ha Acabado," close to Vox, had announced an event at 12 noon in the Plaza Cívica, but well beforehand, hundreds of anti-fascist protesters filled the esplanade to try to prevent the agitator's event. Likewise, a few dozen young people in favor of Quiles, carrying Spanish and Carlist flags, were positioned next to the Communications Library, a few meters from the large UAB plaza. However, Quiles did not appear where he had announced he would, but in the parking lot next to the rectorate, far from the plaza that is the epicenter of university activity. During his time there, the university contacted him to invite him to leave. Two hours later, he left the campus.
The objective of the event, as Quiles announced in a message to X at the beginning of October, was to "champion freedom where it is most threatened." It was to be the start of a tour that the far-right agitator wants to carry out through several universities in the State, emulating Charlie Kirk's actions in the USHours before the event, the UAB stated that it had not received any requests to reserve a space for this talk. It stated that it had requested a room reservation, but that "coincidentally, everything was occupied." In a formal communication to which ARA has had access, the institution asked him to prove whether he had the corresponding authorization. After receiving no response, when the rector's office learned that he was at the university, they went to the parking lot where Quiles was and urged him to leave. In total, sources from the rector's office explain that Quiles spent two hours in the vicinity of the university and has already left.
Tension and Loads
At around 12 noon, after a tense period near the civic plaza, the protesters against Quiles's event, who far outnumbered his supporters, advanced toward the agitator's supporters. Shouting "fascists out of the university" and "long live the struggle of the working class," and after several clashes in which the protesters exchanged object-throwing, the Quiles supporters had to retreat. It was then that the Mossos d'Esquadra intervened for the first time and, after several charges, separated the two groups.
When the police expelled Quiles's supporters from the plaza next to the Communications library, this group headed toward the Faculty of Communications, located a few meters away, where the anti-fascist protesters approached. There, the Espanyol supporters shouted slogans such as "Christian Spain, not Muslim Spain" and "Pedro Sánchez, son of a bitch." The Mossos d'Espana police, after charging Quiles's detractors and separating the two groups, also surrounded and distanced the Espanyol supporters, who eventually dispersed. Later, tensions shifted to the FGC station, where a protester gave a Nazi salute.
Who is Vito Quiles?
Although he graduated in journalism from the Complutense University of Madrid, the Association of Parliamentary Journalists (APP) of Congress has requested that Quiles' accreditation in the Lower House be withdrawn due to his links with Alvise Pérez's party, The Party's Over. Quiles, born in 2000 in Elche, gained popularity during the pandemic as a result of his appearances on State of alarm, a YouTube channel promoted by Javier Negre, former deputy director of'The World, which has now become a platform that amplifies the theses and agenda of the far right.
Members ofState of alarm They have had several clashes with left-wing and pro-independence deputies in the press room of Congress, as well as with some journalists. In fact, media workers with very diverse editorial views They have expressed discomfort with the presence of Quiles and Negre at the press conferences in the lower house.. Following these incidents, Congress established sanctions in September to prosecute harassing behavior in the Spanish chamber.
Beyond the press room and the surroundings of Congress, in recent years Quiles has made a habit of following politicians, journalists, and media contributors, especially those from TVE. The agitator will seek them out at the door of an establishment where he knows they are from, or at an event they plan to attend, and once there, he pesters them with simple questions that seek direct confrontation. On social media, he shares these videos, and if someone stands up to him or reproaches him for his behavior, he highlights the "violence" of the interviewees.