The arrival of summer is the arrival of the main festivals and, with them, the same ritual: the mayor goes out onto the balcony at the moment of the proclamation. But increasingly often this ritual also becomes a headache: the moment when organized citizens take advantage of the most media-friendly stage of the municipal calendar to express their discontent with those in power or the politician who shows up. It repeats year after year, and takes different forms depending on who is on the balcony, who is shouting from below, and what is at stake.

The riots in the Cerdanyola neighborhood of Mataró a week ago have put the city government, the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), and En Comú Podem (Common People's Party) on the ropes. It all began with an attempted occupation of an empty apartment that sparked a... a wave of protests due to the housing crisis in the neighborhood, as already happened in Salt with the eviction of its imam. And, as also happened then, the PP and Vox have taken advantage of the riots—with burned containers and vehicles and a dozen arrests—to accuse the Socialists of neglecting their duties in matters of security. In response, the mayor of Mataró, David Bote, has promised to take a firm stance against the events, which he accuses "extremist groups" (right-wing and left-wing) of instigating and exploiting. In coordination with the Ministry of the Interior, police presence in the neighborhood—with high poverty rates and 26% of residents of foreign origin—and the identification of young people has been increased. This heavy-handed strategy has been criticized by the Housing Union and several anti-racist organizations in the city, who believe that the PSC has preferred to assimilate its discourse to that of the right and far right instead of paying attention to the social unrest following the protests.