The riots enter the campaign: "Sánchez wants to see the fire grow"

BarcelonaThe disturbances in Barcelona have entered the campaign in full force, and the vast majority of parties are taking advantage of the unrest to attack their political rivals. The harshest has been the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who has linked the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, to what he considers to be “barbarity.” “How dare they pontificate about world peace in the morning and fail to guarantee it in their own country at night? Stop giving lessons, if you have dynamited it in Spain,” the popular leader said at a rally in Salamanca, from where he also accused the PSOE of “minimizing” and “justifying” the riots. “Sánchez wants to see the fire grow,” he added.

Thus, Feijóo has claimed to be the candidate who is the “guarantor of civil peace” in the State and has promised to create a government that guarantees “the right to live peacefully.” “I will stand up to the violent ones if they dare to burn the streets,” asserted the PP leader. In the same vein, although with more explicit accusations, Vox has also attacked the socialist executive for the riots in Barcelona. “From Ceuta to Barcelona, Sánchez's militias destroy everything they can. The government has betrayed Spain,” tweeted the leader of the far-right group, Santiago Abascal.

The Spanish Prime Minister has not reacted so far to the riots or the accusations from the Spanish right and far-right, but both the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, have promised to make the culprits pay for the broken dishes. “Everyone who participated in the acts of gratuitous violence yesterday in Barcelona will be arrested, brought before the courts, and will pay a price,” promised Illa at the presentation of the PSC list for Tarragona for November 29. In the same vein, the mayor of the Catalan capital said that the city council will press charges against those responsible for the riots, even those who are minors. “We will go after the parents, to seek responsibility, whether it be financial or criminal,” warned the Mayor of Barcelona.

Junts member Míriam Nogueras has also criticized the Sánchez and Illa executives for the disturbances, and has asserted that the looting "could have been avoided" if preventive measures had been stepped up. "It is necessary to immediately prevent the contagion of these actions, cut them off at the root, they cannot be repeated," remarked the Junts candidate, who has also requested strengthening the Mossos' forces. In addition, the president of the Junts parliamentary group, Mònica Sales, has urged the Government to "explain what preventive measures it adopted and what police device it deployed to avoid" the disorders, and has requested the "urgent" appearance of the Minister of Interior, Núria Parlon, in Parliament.

ERC and the Comuns blame the far-right

The republican Gabriel Rufián has ensured that the images of hooded youths causing destruction in public spaces “benefit the far right”. And he has even stated in statements to the media that “it is very likely that the far right is behind it”, especially in the middle of the pre-campaign for the Spanish elections on November 29th. “There is no political idea that should be defended through violence”, the republican added. He has also shown himself to be against the riots and has denied that they are protesters. “If you steal, you are a thief, not an activist”, he asserted.

Regarding the Comuns, Gerardo Pisarello has lamented that “fascist groups” have gone out to “attack protesters” and that “anonymous, coordinated calls are being produced, calling for looting in Barcelona and Madrid”. “It is necessary to investigate what and who is behind it”, he demanded. “We are too used to the operations and interferences that seek to instrumentalize the youth's unrest to deactivate the mobilizations”, added the mayoral candidate for Barcelona.

On the other hand, Cardinal Joan Josep Omella, Archbishop of Barcelona, has expressed in a statement “surprise and pain” regarding the riots and has made an appeal to the citizenry to “not let themselves be dragged into the spiral of confrontation”. He has also asked to be careful with language and has warned against communications that “polarize” society and present citizens as “irreconcilable enemies”.