Barcelona police arrest eight after Diada clashes between rival protest groups

Police cordon at Plaça Verdaguer

Tensions surfaced on Friday afternoon around Plaça Mossèn Jacint Verdaguer during Catalonia's National Day. The far-right group Núcleo Nacional had organized an 18:00 gathering under the banner "Catalanidad es Hispanidad" at the Jacint Verdaguer monument. In response, left-wing and antifascist collectives, mobilised by the Organización Juvenil Socialista and the Coordinadora Antifeixista de Barcelona, staged a counter-demonstration that blocked traffic along Avinguda Diagonal. The Guàrdia Urbana estimated that approximately 1,500 people joined the antifascist march, while Núcleo Nacional drew roughly 70 participants carrying modified Spanish flags.

To keep the opposing groups apart, the Mossos d'Esquadra deployed around 20 riot vans from the Brigada Mòbil and sealed off surrounding streets. Police kettled the Núcleo Nacional members at the intersection of Carrer Mallorca and Carrer Roger de Flor, keeping them isolated behind vehicle lines for just over an hour. Demonstrators on the counter-protest side chanted slogans including "No pasarán" and confronted the police perimeter, throwing stones, glass bottles, fireworks, and paint. Catalan police used batons to push back crowds attempting to breach the lines.

Officers deployed prevented access at different points of the perimeter with the aim of maintaining separation between the two groups and preventing possible clashes.

Fires and dispersal near Arc de Triomf

Disturbances spread eastward later in the evening toward the Arc de Triomf and Passeig de Sant Joan. From 20:00 onwards, incidents intensified around the junction of Passeig de Sant Joan and Ronda de Sant Pere, where groups of hooded protesters set fire to waste containers and tossed metal street barriers into the flames. Shortly before 21:00, roughly 1,000 people remained in the area around the burning bins. Mossos d'Esquadra riot units charged some groups to secure the area and allow municipal firefighters to extinguish the blazes.

Around 21:20, an estimated 200 protesters relocated to the corner of Passeig de Sant Joan and Carrer Ausiàs March, throwing terrace chairs into the street and lighting another container. Police officers advanced on foot alongside vans, scattering the remaining crowd. Catalan police confirmed eight arrests for public disorder during the Friday evening operations in Barcelona.

Stones, bottles, pyrotechnics and paint were thrown at the deployed police personnel.

Broader Diada mobilisations

The confrontations coincided with larger political demonstrations across Catalonia on September 11. The Assemblea Nacional Catalana organized a combined demonstration across Barcelona, Girona, and Amposta, registering an overall attendance of 57,000 participants. In central Barcelona, a separate march by Esquerra Independentista gathered between 1,100 and 8,000 people according to competing estimates.

The evening arrests followed a separate confrontation overnight at the Fossar de les Moreres memorial in Barcelona, where police intervened between left-wing pro-independence activists and supporters of the ultra-nationalist party Aliança Catalana. Officers arrested three people during that earlier clash before a duty judge ordered their release on Friday. Police also established protection around Aliança Catalana leader Sílvia Orriols during daytime events after members of the Organización Juvenil Socialista attempted to approach her.