Skip to content
Bramble

World

Online calls for Halloween riots across Spain follow Barcelona unrest and 130 arrests

Anonymous social media accounts using the "Blocus" tag are urging riots in Spanish cities on 31 October, citing unrest in France, after Barcelona riots on 24 October led to 130 arrests. Police in Barcelona are preparing, and investigators are seeking the organisers.

2 outlets · 0L · 1C · 1R First reported Account updated
Image: Breitbart
Image: Anadolu Agency

1 / 2

The story, neutrally told

Mixed · 2Messages on social media are calling for violent riots across Spain on Saturday 31 October, Halloween, with some promotional material citing recent protests in France as inspiration. Centre · 1The calls come after riots in Barcelona on Saturday 24 October, when more than 600 young people gathered in the city centre following a social media campaign promoted under the name Blocus; at least 23 businesses were looted or vandalised, firefighters put out 33 small fires, and 76 of those arrested were minors. Centre · 1Weekend unrest in Barcelona led to 130 arrests, and further disturbances on Monday in Bilbao led to around 20 more, according to Anadolu Agency.

Right · 1Breitbart, citing El Mundo, Antena 3 and Las Provincias, reports that the new calls spread on TikTok, WhatsApp and Telegram through anonymous accounts using the Blocus tag, and name Madrid, Málaga, Granollers, Girona and Valencia as targets; two flyers set separate Madrid gatherings at Puerta del Sol and Plaza de España, and an AI-generated Valencia flyer features the Plaza de Toros. Mixed · 2Both outlets say participants are urged to dress in black, with Anadolu adding that a Telegram group called Blocus BCN also encouraged Halloween masks to avoid police identification. Mixed · 2A study published Monday by the Spanish digital intelligence firm Golden Owl found Blocus activity in 18 locations across 11 regions, traced the earliest known activity to 8 October in Madrid, and described a network of disposable accounts recruiting on TikTok and Instagram before moving people to private Telegram and WhatsApp groups; Breitbart, citing El Mundo, says TikTok calls began as early as 18 October.

Centre · 1The study also found calls for further gatherings on 2 November and 30 November, and said participants named luxury brands such as Rolex, Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga and Hermes as looting targets and discussed bringing heavy objects to break windows and confronting police. Mixed · 2Catalan regional police are investigating who organised Saturday's violence, which they believe was coordinated rather than spontaneous; La Vanguardia, cited by Anadolu, reports investigators ruled out a political or ideological motive, and Breitbart says no organised structure had been established and no public manifesto exists. Right · 1Núria Parlón, a member of the Catalan government, told ABC the Barcelona protests did not arise from a demonstration and had nothing to do with a social cause, and she asked WhatsApp and Telegram to shut down the chat groups, which TikTok posts reach through QR codes, according to Breitbart.

Centre · 1Anadolu reports the Golden Owl researchers also detected messages from X accounts based in France, Ecuador and Uruguay encouraging attacks on immigrants after the Barcelona riots, which they saw as a separate risk with no evidence of coordination with Blocus organisers. Centre · 1The unrest has entered the campaign for Spain's 29 November general election: opposition People's Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo accused Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's government of generating tension, government spokesperson Elma Saiz called the accusation "irresponsible", and Sánchez had described the Barcelona riots as "pure vandalism instigated on social media" with "zero tolerance" for the violence.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left0 outlets

No left outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Centre1 outlet

Framing
Police-and-investigation report on preparations for 31 October, drawing on the Golden Owl study and Spanish press, and including the election-campaign political row.
Emphasis
Scale of the network (18 locations, 11 regions), arrest figures, looting targets, further dates, and party-political accusations.
Leaves out or plays down
Does not mention the AI-generated flyers, specific Madrid and Valencia venues, or the Catalan government's request to shut down chat groups.
For example
“Study identifies network operating across 11 Spanish regions as investigators seek organizers of weekend unrest that led to 130 arrests” — Anadolu Agency
“Police in Barcelona are preparing for possible fresh riots on Halloween” — Anadolu Agency

Right1 outlet

Framing
Alerts readers to a France-inspired riot call spreading across Spain, relying on Spanish outlets, and stresses the Barcelona violence as criminal rather than social protest.
Emphasis
City-by-city flyers, AI-generated imagery, disappearing and reappearing accounts, and the Catalan official's remark that the protests had no social cause.
Leaves out or plays down
Omits the arrest and damage figures, the Golden Owl study, the Bilbao arrests, and the political dispute between Feijóo and Sánchez's government.
Charged language
“chaotic events in France”“violent riots”
For example
“call for a wave of violent riots across Spain “inspired” by the recent chaotic events in France” — Breitbart
“appeared to not be motivated by the state of Spain’s education system, but rather by a desire to simply engage in vandalism, arson, and loot stores” — Breitbart

Ask about this story

Loading…