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Barcelona youth protest turns to looting and fires; 100 arrested
Hooded rioters looted shops and set more than 30 fires around Barcelona's Plaça de Catalunya on Saturday after an unauthorized 'anti-system' youth protest, and police arrested about 100 people, roughly a quarter of them minors.
About 100 people were arrested in Barcelona on Saturday night after an unauthorized youth protest billed as "anti-system" spiraled into looting and arson around Plaça de Catalunya, the Spanish city's central square popular with tourists and weekend shoppers.
Catalonia's interior minister said rioters set more than 30 fires and vandalized or looted 14 stores. Around a quarter of those detained were minors, Reuters reported.
'Indignant schools'
The protest was called online under the banner "Instituts Indignats," a nod to France's "Lycées Indignés" high school movement, and had not been notified to authorities. Participants cited rising housing costs and living conditions.
By early evening, groups dressed in black with their faces covered had built a burning barricade of trash containers, bins and motorbikes where Carrer de Bergara meets the square, smashed bus shelters and hurled stones at police.
Flares and fireworks lit up the area as the crowds spilled into La Rambla, Portal de l'Àngel and Ronda Universitat.
Stores stripped
Footage from inside an electronics store shows masked youths sweeping through the aisles as staff and shoppers scramble.
Many businesses pulled down their shutters early. The El Corte Inglés department store on the square closed with customers still inside, Catalan outlet Nació reported.
A jewelry store was also ransacked, with the scene broadcast live by people at the site.
Later footage showed smashed storefronts, toppled and burned motorbikes, and firefighters dousing blazes in the streets.
Police charges, arrests
Catalonia's regional police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, and Barcelona's Guàrdia Urbana deployed more than 10 units. Riot officers charged to break up the crowds, streets between Plaça d'Universitat and Plaça d'Urquinaona were sealed off, and access to the central metro station was restricted.
One video shows a looter being caught after trying to snatch a passerby's phone.
Rioters also vandalized bikes from the city's bike-share stations.
'Protesting is a democratic right'
Catalan President Salvador Illa condemned the violence and thanked the police. "Protesting is a democratic right. Aggressing, intimidating, or causing damage is not," he said.
Activists from a housing-rights camp that has occupied part of Plaça de Catalunya for weeks distanced themselves from the riot. Youth-led protests over living costs and housing have also flared recently in France, Belgium, Italy and Portugal.
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