Overview
- On October 31 police mounted an unprecedented, multi-agency deployment that closed streets, set checkpoints at transport hubs and placed plainclothes officers across central Barcelona to stop planned Blocus gatherings.
- Officers carried out mass identity checks, reporting between about 1,100 and 1,440 identifications in the first hours and registering or seizing 63 items such as balaclavas, masks and cutting tools deemed usable in altercations.
- Authorities made multiple arrests, including a 21-year-old accused of administering an online Blocus coordination channel and several minors; a special detainee-processing point was set up on Pau Claris to speed handling.
- Shops boarded windows, around 200 public bins were removed and some metro exits were closed as preventative municipal measures while local leaders praised a zero-tolerance approach and the U.S. Embassy warned travelers to avoid protest concentrations.
- Police say the centre remained calm by midnight on October 31, but heightened patrols and merchant protections stay in place and authorities say they will continue legal follow-up and intelligence work ahead of further summonses and the November 11 strike.