Alleged Blocus founder jailed as Spanish police check 1,000 people in Barcelona on Halloween
Saturday evening passed without major incidents in Barcelona and Valencia after a week of arrests over online calls for looting, with heavy police deployments in Spain's largest cities.
By Álvaro Luna, Barcelona
3 min read
A court in Torrent, near Valencia, on Saturday remanded in custody without bail the man the Guardia Civil considers the "founder and driving force" of Blocus in Spain, as police across the country tried to prevent a repeat of last week's looting in Barcelona.
By 19.30 CET, the Mossos d'Esquadra, Catalonia's regional police, and Barcelona's city police had identified about 1,000 people in the city centre, including young people heading for Plaça de Catalunya and Passeig de Gràcia, according to EFE. Officers filed 63 administrative reports for confiscated objects that could be used to loot shops or cause trouble. The only arrest reported was of a young man found to have an outstanding warrant. None of the three gatherings that Blocus channels had called in Barcelona went ahead, the agency said.
In Valencia, the afternoon also passed without notable incidents, according to the central government's delegation in the region and the National Police cited by EFE. Shops in the historic centre have had their windows boarded up since Friday. The mayor, María José Catalá, promised "zero tolerance" of vandalism, EFE reported.
A week of arrests
The alleged founder, aged 20 according to EFE, was arrested on Friday in Picanya and is being investigated for belonging to a criminal organisation aimed at inciting public disorder, robbery with force at shops and criminal damage, elDiario.es reported, citing the Valencian regional high court. EFE said a second court in the region also remanded another Blocus-linked detainee in custody without bail. Earlier on Saturday an 18-year-old arrested in Alfafar, whom the National Police accuse of teaching followers online how to make Molotov cocktails and how to act during looting, was brought before the duty court in Catarroja.
The Mossos also arrested a 21-year-old in Cabrera d'Anoia, near Barcelona, whom they describe as the administrator of one of the channels used to coordinate the looting of 24 October. He is the fourth person held in Catalonia in that investigation, which remains open. Police also arrested the administrator of a Blocus account in Bilbao that had named shops as targets and shared instructions for making explosives, EFE said.
In Palma, Majorca, the National Police arrested nine minors on Friday night and identified 200 people around Plaza de España during a gathering called by Blocus Mallorca, according to EFE. Blocus called a new gathering there for 19.30 CET on Saturday.
Why the authorities are worried
Blocus spreads through TikTok videos, Telegram channels and posters with QR codes that lead to private groups, and police say it has called for looting, sabotage and attacks on officers, according to EFE. It began with a video in which a hooded figure urged young people to imitate sabotage actions seen in France.
On 24 October a protest called on social media in central Barcelona ended with burning bins and street furniture and many shops looted. Police made 128 arrests on the spot, according to EFE. For Saturday the Mossos activated a level 4 deployment, their highest for street mobilisations, which police sources told EFE had only been used once before, in February 2021.
In Madrid, the city council planned 1,700 municipal officers over the long weekend, working with the National Police, and shops on Gran Vía, Calle Montera and the upmarket "Golden Mile" boarded up their windows.