The Mossos, "surprised": "It is not a demonstration like the ones we are used to"

BarcelonaThe police sources consulted last night by ARA had already pointed it out and, this morning, the chief commissioner of the Mossos d'Esquadra, Sílvia Catà, admitted it openly. The police force is "surprised" by the turn that the youth protest this Saturday night in Barcelona took, which ended as a pitched battle in the city center. "It is quite inexplicable, it is not a demonstration like the ones we are used to protecting," argued the commissioner, in an interview with Catalunya Ràdio.

According to Catà, behind the riots—which have ended with a toll of 128 detainees, 72 of whom are minors and several injured—"there are no criminal groups," but rather individuals attending calls circulating on social media under the hashtag Blocus, and which have as their main reference the protests of recent days in France to express general unrest against the system. Catà, however, explained that in Barcelona the gatherings have basically consisted of "looting" and have been carried out by young boys (there are only six girls arrested). In fact, more than half of those arrested are minors, some of whom are only 14 years old. Only two of the detainees had a record for public disorder. On the other hand, 25 of those arrested had other types of records in their files.

According to the chief commissioner of the Mossos, "these are not groups of young people with the intention of demonstrating to claim rights," but rather "totally disorganized people" who gather in small groups to commit acts of vandalism and "gratuitous violence" after a call to go to Plaça Catalunya. Catà explained that the police are "monitoring" who is behind it and are investigating the profile of the detainees to find out "the underlying problem."

The officers identified about 300 people in the first two hours of the call, and filed 68 reports against young people for carrying pyrotechnics, balaclavas, spray cans, or stones. Four of them, in addition, carried bladed weapons. From 6:30 onwards, 150 more people were identified. The police operation counted on 175 Mossos officers, 30 teams from the Arro mobile brigade, and 90 officers from the Guàrdia Urbana.