Interior sources said there is no imminent risk, and the OCC sent the warning to the state security forces as routine. Spain's alert level 4 has been in force since 17 October 2023.
The alert from the Cybersecurity Coordination Office, cited by El País, flags calls for attacks with explosives, knives or vehicles against police and protesters in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal.
Newtral identified about twenty TikTok profiles that began recruiting young Spaniards on 18 and 19 October to replicate French protests in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and Bilbao on Saturday, 24 October.
The Portuguese Judicial Police told DN it has no knowledge of threats at protests in Portugal, while the SIS had not replied to DN at publication.
Spain's Interior Ministry detected messages on a website linked to Islamic State (Daesh) that call for attacks on police officers and protesters during demonstrations in several European countries, Spain among them. According to an information alert from the Cybersecurity Coordination Office (OCC), which depends on the ministry, the posts propose using explosives, knives or vehicles during gatherings and street clashes. El País, which said it had access to the internal document, reported that some messages also give advice on how such attacks could be carried out. The alert singles out France, where the large turnout is described as a rare and valuable opportunity to target protesters, and says police become easy targets during clashes.
Interior sources said there is no imminent risk, and the OCC has passed the warning to the state security forces as a routine step. Spain has kept its terrorism alert at level 4, described as 'reforzado' (reinforced), since 17 October 2023, when the ministry adopted the measure after escalating tension in the Middle East following Hamas attacks and Israel's military response. Ministry figures for 2026 show that the National Police and the Guardia Civil carried out 47 operations in 23 provinces, which ended in 86 arrests. The ministry says its monitoring of social networks against jihadism is permanent and involves the OCC, the Intelligence Centre against Terrorism and Organised Crime (CITCO) and the state security forces.
LaSexta reported on Newtral's analysis, which identified about twenty TikTok profiles that began recruiting young Spaniards on 18 and 19 October. The profiles call for protests to be replicated on Saturday, 24 October, in cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and Bilbao, modelled on the demonstrations in France. Users are redirected to WhatsApp and Telegram groups where instructions are shared. According to LaSexta, the recruitment aims to disrupt demonstrations or concentrations and even to imitate the looting seen in France. The ministry's monitoring specifically searches TikTok and Telegram for signs of recruitment or attack planning.
El País reported that Portugal is among the countries named in the internal alert, alongside Spain, France and Italy. The Portuguese Judicial Police told DN that it has no knowledge of threats at protests in Portugal, and that it only intervenes in forensic work on property-crime reports. The Portuguese intelligence service SIS had not answered DN's request at the time of publication. The El País account says the messages contain no concrete plans, dates or locations for attacks, and that neither do the comments on the page. Counter-terrorism sources told El Mundo that the content is general incitement rather than an attack in preparation, and that monitoring such spaces matters because they can encourage individual radicalisation.
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Spain's Interior Ministry found posts on a website linked to Islamic State urging attacks on police and protesters with explosives, knives or vehicles. Officials say there is no imminent risk.
AI text based on reports by LaSexta, SAPO, La Libre.be and other publishers. Published .