Overview
- The disturbances that saw widespread looting and vandalism in central Barcelona involved hundreds of identifications and dozens of arrests and took place on Saturday, and many of those detained were minors.
- The Generalitat has agreed to personarse as a plaintiff in the cases and will provide legal representation for Mossos officers injured during the riots.
- Mossos d’Esquadra asked the CITCO’s UNECI unit to press Telegram to close Blocus channels, and the platform has removed multiple groups even as replacement channels continue to appear.
- National police forces and Spain’s intelligence services have opened joint probes to test the hypothesis that bots or foreign disinformation campaigns helped spread the convocations and target specific youth audiences.
- Municipalities, merchant associations and police are preparing visible prevention plans for the 31 October period while police unions press the government to supply more riot-control equipment and resources.