Throughout the week there had been announcements on social media of a mobilization on Saturday in the image of what was happening in France. It was not clear who was organizing it –it is still unknown–, and the call spread through TikTok and other social media and was aimed primarily at young people. In Madrid it failed, but in Barcelona more than 500 young people gathered, many of them minors, mostly boys, who barely even tried to pretend they were moved by a protest and quickly moved on to clash with the police and loot clothing or footwear shops for young people and electronics stores in a way that seemed planned. Despite the planned police deployment, it was not enough and the young people managed to loot fourteen establishments, destroy urban furniture, injure police officers and cause chaos in the city center. The result has been 128 people arrested, most of them minors, and, above all, the feeling that control has been lost.

The novelty of Saturday's violence was, according to the Mossos, that the hooded individuals did not carry out the classic action of hiding at the tail end of an organized protest demonstration, but rather were summoned on TikTok, met up via WhatsApp in groups of no more than 15 or 20 youths (this, in their jargon, is called “the funnel”), planted themselves in the center of Barcelona and started destroying and looting. In a word, the violent ones began breaking windows, skipping the preliminaries. And the police were surprised by the virulence and the impact.

There are people who believe that life is shit. Metaphorically. But there are also those who believe it is a literal pile of dung. Let us travel through the geography of massive droppings. In many cities, the pigeon plague is an obligatory open buffet. In Balaguer, where life is very good, the pigeons do not want to leave even with turpentine. The problem has moved from the sky to the earth.

They are afraid and they do not hide it. "We are terrified. Because of what happened yesterday and what could happen on October 31st [when there is a new call for protest], on the 11th with the general strike, or on the 29th with the elections." The person speaking is Albert Moya, who, together with his father and his aunt, runs three flower stalls in Plaça de Catalunya that were destroyed yesterday. This Sunday he has reopened, with the windows broken and covered with cardboard. "Let's see what happens tonight, with the Barça - Madrid match, too. Now any spark can make violence break out again," he reflects.

Perhaps you remember the therians. For a few days last February, these teenagers who supposedly identified with animals and acted as such monopolized the conversation. Many articles and hours of radio and television were dedicated to analyzing this phenomenon, which until then no one had ever heard of. Today we know that rather than young people who thought they were kittens, the therians were lab mice. Let me explain.

Did they expect it? The answer is yes. The Mossos d'Esquadra were expecting protests this Saturday in Barcelona. They had been monitoring social media for days and had detected calls to emulate the riots in Paris. They knew there were Telegram groups with 700 youths. Since 4 p.m., more than 300 youths were identified and hammers and other metal tools were seized that they intended to use to loot businesses. But were they surprised? Very much so. Initially, about 300 people were expected, and there were more than 500.

Nine people face sentences of up to 27 and a half years in prison, accused of attempted murder for setting fire to a Barcelona City Police van with an officer inside, who was able to escape in time through the passenger door. It happened on February 27, 2021, during the protests over the imprisonment of rapper Pablo Hasél, who had entered prison on the 16th of the same month for a conviction for glorifying terrorism and insulting the Crown.

A climate of tension, far-right sentiment, and plenty of misinformation. These are the ingredients that explain the disturbances this Sunday at the port of Ceuta, where several protesters ended up stoning the car of Ceuta assembly member Julia Ferreras. The attack, for which a 22-year-old man has been arrested, took place during a protest against the arrival of Negu Gorriak / Derecho a Techo, an NGO from Pamplona that was bringing humanitarian aid to the autonomous city. Neither Ferreras was part of the organization, nor were the companions she sheltered in her car, the activist Rafael Borrego and the human rights lawyer Sofía Cánovas. This, however, did not prevent them from being pelted with eggs and stones, nor did it stop the protesters from breaking the vehicle's windows and mirrors and attempting to force their way inside.

The Civil Guard arrested on Monday in Mataró director of the supremacist and xenophobic group Deport Them Now for his alleged role as instigator of the riots and racist "hunts" that have taken place in recent days in the Murcia town of Torre Pacheco. According to sources from the Ministry of the Interior who spoke to Efe, the arrested man is a 28-year-old man who lived in Barcelona and who last January obtained authorization to work as a private bodyguard.

The town of Torre Pacheco, about fifteen kilometers from Cartagena in Murcia, has been making headlines for four days due to riots carried out by far-right extremists from across Spain. On Wednesday, a 68-year-old man was beaten in the street early in the morning, sparking a wave of violence by far-right groups who have traveled to Torre Pacheco with the aim, they say, of "avenging" the attack. They claim it was carried out by three young men, at least one of North African origin, and have targeted immigrants. However, the police have not yet revealed the suspect's nationality. All of this has led to two consecutive nights of racist harassment and street clashes. Below, we explain the key factors behind this escalation of violence.

The Les Termes neighborhood of Sabadell experienced its second consecutive night of tension on Thursday due to a clash between residents opposed to the occupation of a business by two men and the police. Initially, a demonstration had been called to express their opposition to a situation that several residents described as conflictive, but the protest soon took a turn: although none of the occupants remained in the building, altercations broke out, a stabbing occurred, and a minor was arrested as the alleged attacker, in addition to several injuries. Fires were also set and there were direct clashes with Mossos d'Esquadra officers.

A second consecutive night of violence in the town of Ballymena, 45 kilometers north of Belfast (Northern Ireland), has seen what police have described as "racist riots." These riots have partially spread, though not as seriously, to some areas in the north of the provincial capital and the towns of Newtownabbey and Cartown. Protesters threw Molotov cocktails, bricks, and rockets at police, who responded with rubber bullets, water cannons, and riot dogs. While eleven police officers were injured on Monday night, this time there were seventeen.

France celebrated tonight PSG's victory in the Champions League finalHowever, a celebration that has turned tragic, with major clashes across the country and at least two fatalities, as confirmed by the Ministry of the Interior. Specifically, during these celebrations, a 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Dacs, in southwestern France. At this time, the police have not specified the context of the attack. In Paris, a man died while riding a motorcycle and was struck by a car.

A mass brawl in Lleida tonight led to clashes and confrontations with the Mossos d'Esquadra, with six officers injured, according to reports. The Case and Catalan police sources confirm to ARA. The incident occurred in the Mariola neighborhood, west of the city's historic center, and is currently under investigation. At the moment, there are no arrests, according to the same sources.

The eviction of an imam and his family has inflamed the migrant community of Salt, which has long denounced housing racism and difficulties in accessing housing. The protests began Monday night spontaneously, without any prior communication or any organizing entity, and continued Tuesday night, in a second day of altercations and clashes that ended with at least six arrests.

After two weeks of mobilizations and riots due to the imprisonment of the rapper Pablo Hasél, the vice-president, Pere Aragonès, has appeared this Wednesday before the Permanent Deputation of the Parliament to express the positioning of the Government. "We condemn all the violence and express support for the Mossos d'Esquadra and local police", said the -also- acting president.

The Barcelona police court has ordered provisional detention without bail for eight of those arrested in Saturday's riots in Barcelona. They are part of the group that is linked to the anarchist movement and the riots in the Catalan capital that left the image of a van of the Guardia Urbana burning, according to the General Commissariat of Information of the Mossos d'Esquadra, dedicated to the fight against terrorism. They are being investigated for the crimes of belonging to a criminal group, attempted murder - due to burning the van whilst a police agent was inside of it -, attack on law enforcement officers, demonstration or unlawful assembly, public disorder and damage. The detainees appeared Tuesday before the court of instruction number 17 of Barcelona and only answered the questions of their defense.

That the riots following the demonstrations and protests of these days - whose trigger was the imprisonment of Pablo Hasél but which include a wide range of demands - were taking a worrying turn was already perceived with the assault on the police station in Vic, on the 16th of February. But seeds of higher levels of aggressiveness were already visible. Ten days earlier an incendiary device had been thrown at the Matadepera local police headquarters and the Vic train station was seriously vandalised. And still on October 31st a demonstration in Barcelona against the anti-covid restrictions - linked by the Mossos to extreme right-wing groups - ended with 14 people arrested, 23 policemen injured and several lootings.

Surrounded by big brands like Pull&Bear, Zara, Vodafone or Orange, there are still family businesses that survive in Gran de Gràcia street. One of them is the almost century-old shop Vall, which sells bags, suitcases, and accessories. It was founded in 1923 by Esther Vall's great-grandparents, in premises at number 165, which started out as a basket and furniture shop. Over the years, the business has evolved towards accessories and they have opened a shop in Escorial street and, just two months ago, another one at number 108, on the corner with Ros de Olano. Esther, along with her sister, are the fourth generation of the family that runs this business in the heart of Gràcia. They have been "desperate" for a week: "The first day of the riots they painted the shop with acid and on Saturday they broke our windows. In short: everything is terrible", she explains to the ARA. Although the big headlines of the riots have been taken by the stores of the looted multinationals, Esther's case gives voice to small businesses that have also been affected by the riots of these days against the imprisonment of the rapper Pablo Hasél.

Around forty commanders of the Catalan police, known as the Mossos d'Esquadra, have met this morning in the Egara HQ in the leadership's weekly meeting, which was centred, logically, around the protests of the last three days in Catalonia over the imprisonment of Pablo Hasél. They have shown concern for the violence on the streets and for the fact that the police are a target for demonstrators. That is why all those who have spoken have wanted to express their support for police officers. According to corps sources, the director of the Mossos, Major Josep Lluís Trapero, wanted to make this support explicit to the agents of Vic police station and all those who have found themselves in a situation of danger, apart from asking the commanders to be close in the next few days, which he has defined as "complicated".