Violent clashes in Plaça de Catalunya after youth protest veers off course

Plaça de Catalunya in central Barcelona turned on Saturday evening into a scene of widespread rioting after a youth protest called via social networks under the slogan "Angry High Schools" deviated from its peaceful route.

The protest, whose slogan was inspired by the French student movement "Lycées Indignés", was not authorized, and was attended by hundreds of young people, most of them minors, who wore black clothing and some covered their faces before the violence began.

The square saw rubbish containers set on fire, barricades erected and shops looted, alongside direct clashes with members of the Mossos d'Esquadra police force, according to security sources, which also reported that protesters threw stones at security forces and caused damage to public property.

In a statement posted by the police on X the force said "masked violent groups are burning containers, vandalising street furniture and throwing stones at the police", while security forces moved in to encircle the square and attempt to restore order.

As tensions escalated, protesters built large barricades using containers, rubbish bins and motorcycles at the junction of Vergara Street and Plaça de Catalunya and set them on fire, prompting fire brigades to respond and riot units to carry out push-and-pull dispersal operations.

Barcelona municipal police closed access points to the square between Urquinaona and Universitat stations, while major stores such as El Corte Inglés and Zara hurried to pull down their shutters and secure their façades for fear of looting and vandalism.

The disturbances coincide with an open sit-in that activists have been holding in the same square for weeks to demand the right to housing, protesting rising rents and a drop in purchasing power.

The event is not only local: the clashes in Barcelona are part of a wider wave of protests in Europe against the cost of living; France has seen recent clashes in cities such as Marseille, Lyon and Lille that left around a thousand arrests, and observers say what happened in Barcelona reflects attempts by some elements to imitate the French model and the spread of what they called a "protest contagion" that worries European authorities.