"We are terrified": the new calls on social media scare the merchants

BarcelonaThey 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.

His stalls were part of the twenty or so establishments that were destroyed or looted on Saturday night during the night of riots that took place in Barcelona after a youth protest. "Although I do not agree with it, I can come to understand the motives that lead them to loot an international chain, a symbol of capitalism, but a flower shop?" he questions. Moya describes what he experienced as a "guerrilla war." "They were running everywhere, attacking quickly and running away; the police were going crazy chasing them," he recalls.

They did not only attack establishments, but also street furniture, especially dumpsters and bus shelters, worth 36,000 euros. They burned 31 of them, according to data from the City Council. And this Sunday, 24 hours after the events, the uncertainty has returned: "We have seen that there are already new calls on the web for next Saturday; we feel super-exposed with the stall here in the middle," he laments. With the construction work on La Rambla, the City Council has temporarily relocated them to the square.

Disappointment, frustration and even fear and sadness are some of the words that many merchants were using this Sunday to describe their feelings. Omar Faruk, who works next to the Pandora store—which was razed—protected the premises where he works, but as a consequence, his mobile phone was stolen. "I stood at the door with other colleagues, but at one of the moments we were pushing the youths away, they took advantage of it to steal my phone," he laments. He saw them smashing the shop window next door. "I tried to stop it, but there were so many of them; we couldn't do anything other than protect ourselves," explains Faruk.

Barcelona Comerç, which groups 24 commercial axes of Barcelona, has condemned the acts of violence and has requested "firmness" from the administrations. From Barcelona Oberta it has also been lamented that all of this happened on one of the days with the highest influx of people in the shops and "without any warning". A complaint that has also been echoed by the Barcelona Restaurant Guild, which has denounced that the administration did not correctly assess the risk of the call and that the police device to respond to the disturbances was "insufficient".

No one warned them

In a statement, this guild regrets that no administration contacted them to warn about this Saturday's call, hours before the riots, nor to convey any support during the altercations. The truth is that the Mossos were aware of it, as confirmed yesterday evening by the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, and the Minister of Interior and Public Security, Núria Parlon. "Someone from the City Council told us that there would be a demonstration; but what happened yesterday was anything but a demonstration," points out Moya.

In this sense, the restaurateurs consider that the administration "underestimated the risk" and, as a consequence, "the deployed device proved insufficient". For all these reasons, they state that they feel "disappointed" by what they describe as a "chain of errors" by those who have the duty to guarantee security and public order. The City Council already assured last night that it will appear as an accuser in the cases opened for the riots and, in this sense, the Restaurant Guild has asked that it defend not only public assets, but also private ones that were vandalized.

This morning, the mayor, Jaume Collboni, visited the merchants in the area and assured that negotiations will be opened to address the demands made by the economic sector, with aid in the claim processes and even with financial aid "in case it is needed". Collboni has positioned himself "absolutely on the side" of the merchants and restaurateurs and has said that the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa –with whom he has been in constant contact since yesterday afternoon–, is also in agreement with opening these lines of aid.

Meanwhile, in the middle of Plaça Catalunya, the campers protesting the housing emergency distance themselves from any violent act and explain that yesterday they even welcomed pedestrians and families into their fences who found themselves in the middle of the pitched battle and were afraid. "We distance ourselves from it completely, but at the same time we warn politicians that all this violence is because of the capitalist policies that make people suffer," says Chiara Monroy, a member of the camp who manages communication for the activists. They also perceive "risk" in the coming days. "We could end up being harmed without having anything to do with it, and that worries us. We have seen the new calls and will try to prepare for the 31st and also for November 11th, through our assemblies," explains Monroy.

36,000 euros in street furniture

Regarding urban furniture, the violence of the protesters was concentrated, above all, on bus shelters and dumpsters. They also set fire to bicycles from shared mobility companies and some motorcycles. During Saturday night, 31 dumpsters were burned, which have already been replaced, as well as the 106 that were preventively removed from the area of the riots "due to the risk that they could be vandalized," point out sources from the city council.

"Municipal services have worked throughout the night to restore normality to the city," point out sources from the municipal team. The same sources specified this morning that access to the metro and the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat, which were closed yesterday when the disturbances began, were reopened at dawn and are now operating normally again, and that bus lines have also recovered their frequency of passage through the area.

The unannounced protest brought together about 500 young people in Plaça Catalunya and its surroundings, most of them dressed in black and hooded, following a call that spread through social media, very similar to those that have shaken France and other European countries in recent days, which also ended in violent incidents. The Mossos reported this Sunday that they arrested 128 people in Barcelona, more than half of whom were minors.