During 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.

OC spray, made from natural pepper extract, is a substance that expels a gaseous cloud that immediately irritates the eyes and throat of those exposed. This is a police tool that the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) are increasingly using, and has recently been used in pro-Palestinian protests in Barcelona. On Wednesday, this spray was sprayed on a group of people sitting at one of the entrances to Sants station, trying to prevent the bus of the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team from moving forward, as it was heading to Manresa for a match.