Two girls aged 14 and 17 arrested over Blocus looting in Barcelona; five minors sent to closed centres

Two girls arrested over online coordination

Mossos d'Esquadra and the Policía Nacional arrested two girls, aged 14 and 17, in a joint operation in the Maresme and Bages comarcas. Investigators working with the juvenile section of the Barcelona provincial prosecutor's office suspect them of promoting violent acts and looting in Barcelona on 24 October, an offence described as public disorder aggravated by looting. According to investigators, the girls were active administrators and moderators of several WhatsApp groups used to coordinate vandalism by the Blocus network. Access to those private channels was pushed widely on TikTok through forged posters carrying a QR code. Salvador Illa, president of the Generalitat de Catalunya, posted on X about the arrests.

“Two new arrests show there will be no impunity. Whoever promotes or takes part in these acts will have to answer to justice.”

A man remanded in custody

A court in Barcelona ordered a 21-year-old man held in prison without bail on Monday, 2 November. Mossos say he was arrested on Saturday, 31 October, in Cabrera d'Anoia. The judge found signs of public disorder and membership of a criminal organisation. Investigators say he was one of the administrators of a WhatsApp group and played an active role in running it. The Mossos also accuse him of promoting participation through posters circulated on TikTok. Remand in custody is a precautionary measure, not a sentence.

Juvenile courts process 79 minors

Barcelona's juvenile judges received 79 minors linked to the 24 October disturbances between 25 and 31 October, according to a communiqué the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Catalunya (TSJC) issued on Monday. Five were placed in closed-regime detention, 72 were placed under supervised liberty, 32 of them barred from attending demonstrations, and two had no precautionary measure imposed. The judges first ruled on the most urgent cases, since a minor can be held for no more than 48 hours without a decision. Minors who had been released were then summoned across the rest of the week, and interviews and technical reports were reviewed for each case. The TSJC says no minor's court appearance remains pending. ABC reports a higher count of 89 minors among 133 detainees, with 70 under supervised liberty, and says prosecutors sought no measure for ten of them.

Closed-regime detention5

Supervised liberty72

No precautionary measure2

Closed-regime detention

5 minors

Supervised liberty

72 minors

No precautionary measure

2 minors

Data from the article text

Timeline of the disturbances

The sequence starts with disturbances in central Barcelona on 24 October, which ABC describes as the looting of dozens of shops and burning barricades. EL PAÍS reports that the events ended with 133 people detained. Minors began appearing before the juvenile courts from 25 October. A 21-year-old was arrested on 31 October, the same day ABC says a new call for disturbances was aborted by the Mossos and the Guardia Urbana. On Monday, 2 November, the TSJC published its measures, the judge ordered the 21-year-old remanded, and the arrests of the two girls were announced.

Arrests across Spain and the weekend operation

Beyond Catalonia, EL PAÍS reports about ten detentions, including two people arrested in Fuengirola on Sunday and seven young people in Valencia, Bilbao, Málaga and Fuengirola. RTVE puts the national total at more than a dozen. In Catalonia, six people have been arrested so far, two of them minors, according to RTVE. Over the weekend of 31 October and 1 November, El Mundo reports that the Mossos and the Guardia Urbana made more than 2,200 identifications, three arrests and 181 reports for carrying bladed weapons. More than 500 officers took part in that operation.

Regional response to the platforms

Illa has asked the Generalitat's legal services to study measures to hold technology platforms and social networks accountable when they allow or tolerate messages calling for vandalism and looting. According to the TSJC, the 24 October call was the only one from Blocus that ended in incidents in Catalonia. Investigators say the operation to determine who planned and spread the calls remains open, and further arrests are not ruled out.