Barcelona Burns After Violent Riots: 128 Arrested, 15 Police Hurt as Feijóo Accuses Sánchez of Trying to "Set the Street on Fire"
Barcelona counted the damage on Sunday after a night of violent riots that left 128 people arrested, 15 police officers injured and 36,000 euros in damage to street furniture — and the unrest instantly became the hottest weapon of Spain's election campaign.
The Mossos d'Esquadra, Catalonia's police force, said the disturbances erupted on Saturday during a protest encouraged by Blocus, an anonymous online platform that called for a violent demonstration. The Mossos are now investigating the platform and who was behind the call.
Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni said the protest was deliberately spread with an anti-democratic purpose: "Alguien la hizo circular con intencionalidad no democrática."
Feijóo: "They have lost the street, now they want to set it on fire"
Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo seized on the riots at a campaign rally in Salamanca on Sunday, accusing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of tolerating the violence as his government runs out of road.
"Se están resistiendo a abandonar el poder con violencia. Como han perdido la calle, ahora quieren incendiarla," Feijóo told the crowd, alongside all of his provincial candidates for the November 29 general election. He announced he will visit Barcelona next week to see the damage first-hand.
The PP's deputy secretary, Ester Muñoz, went further: "Cataluña ardiendo y él bailando" — Catalonia burning and him dancing.
Vox and Aliança Catalana linked the vandalism directly to immigration, while Junts demanded that Catalan Interior chief Núria Parlon appear before parliament to explain the security failure: "Esto no queremos que sea Francia."
A campaign already on edge
The riots landed in the middle of a snap election campaign Sánchez called on October 5, with Spain voting on November 29. The latest polling average puts Feijóo's PP at 31.4 percent, Sánchez's PSOE at 26.9 percent and Vox at 18.8 percent.
Sánchez, interviewed in El País on Sunday, warned that a PP-Vox government would mean "retroceder 50 años" in rights and freedoms — and admitted his biggest mistake in eight years in office was failing to detect the corruption linked to former minister José Luis Ábalos.
Vox leader Santiago Abascal, interviewed in La Vanguardia the same day, defended case-by-case deportations of migrants and insisted his party is running for the presidency, not the vice-presidency, in any future deal with the PP.
The Barcelona violence — and who gets blamed for it — is now the defining image of that campaign: a city with smashed street furniture, 128 people in custody, and two rival camps accusing each other of setting Spain alight.
Reporting based on EFE.