The justice system says that Blocus is a protest "empty of content with the sole purpose of looting"

BarcelonaSome of the people arrested during the riots and looting on Saturday that were called under the name Blocus in the center of Barcelona are prohibited from attending new demonstrations. This was decreed by an on-duty judge in the face of the violence that took place in the center of the Catalan capital during a protest that she described as "empty of content, with the sole purpose of looting the shops in the conflict zone," according to an interlocutory order to which Efe has had access. The magistrate has already taken statements from a part of the fifty detainees who are of legal age and has agreed on measures ranging from mandatory court appearances to the prohibition of attending protests.

For this weekend there is announced a second wave of calls under the name Blocus in several cities of the State. Given this forecast, the judge considers that prohibiting attendance at demonstrations is justified taking into account "the violence exerted by the large group of people that gathered at the scene." The goal is to prevent the detainees from "participating again in acts of a similar nature." In Madrid and Barcelona there are already times and meeting places for new riots during the night of the Castanyada. However, it seems that several members participating in the groups that organize them have proposed advancing the call to the day before, the 30th.

"Serious acts of violence"

Beyond prohibiting attendance at demonstrations, the judge attributes to two of the detainees a crime of public disorder, since they perpetrated "serious acts of violence, throwing stones, cobblestones, and other throwable objects at the uniformed officers of the anti-riot units who were at the scene to control the situation and prevent looting and robberies in establishments". These are behaviors that, for the magistrate, "exceed legitimate citizen protest and fit into the serious alteration of public peace required by the Penal Code".

The Mossos d'Esquadra continue to investigate who is behind the call for last Saturday's protest, which has had repercussions in other Catalan cities, in most cases without any turnout of people. The Catalan police has asked for help from the CITCO, the Intelligence Center against Terrorism and Organized Crime, which depends on the Ministry of the Interior, to try to fight against Blocus and put an end to the channels and groups through which these people organize themselves.