Telegram shuts second Blocus group of over 2,000 members calling for Halloween riots

A second group closed on Tuesday

Telegram closed a second group linked to the Blocus name on Tuesday, 27 October, at about 3 pm, according to EL PAÍS. The group, called BLOCUS-BCN2, had more than 2,000 members that morning, Europa Press and La Vanguardia reported, while La Razón put its user count at 2,600. The first group, BLOCUS-BCN, was shut on Monday night, 26 October. La Vanguardia reported that the organisers had urged members to loot shops without police presence and to wear black clothing and Halloween masks, while later messages in the same group described a peaceful gathering and calls to meet at cafés. A third account was still active, and police sources said the Mossos had asked for its closure too.

Police route the request through a counter-terrorism body

Mossos d'Esquadra asked the Interior Ministry's Centre for Intelligence against Terrorism and Organised Crime (CITCO) on Monday, 26 October, to have the channel closed. The request was passed to the National Unit for the Withdrawal of Illicit Content on the Internet (UNECI), which La Vanguardia says coordinates the removal of terrorist or extremist propaganda. The Mossos acknowledged that the content was neither terrorist nor extremist, but judged a closure useful to prevent copycat riots. EL PAÍS reported that police sources described it as the first time the Mossos had used this route for channels promoting riots. The unit was formally created in 2024, and under a European regulation it can order removal of terrorist material within one hour. For groups that promote riots, however, removal depends on the platforms cooperating voluntarily. Earlier on Monday, the consellera de Interior of the Generalitat, Núria Parlon, had asked messaging platforms to close groups that incite young people to commit crimes and violence.

The 24 October riots and the call for 31 October

La Razón reported that riots broke out in central Barcelona on Saturday, 24 October, with barricades, bonfires and looting around Plaza de Catalunya. More than 20 shops suffered losses in the thousands of euros, and thousands of people were held inside a department store on the square. Europa Press put the number detained at 130, while La Razón's earlier report cited more than 100 detained and about twenty officers injured. Messages in the Telegram groups referred to tasers and batons, according to La Razón, and urged participants to gather in groups of at least five. On Monday afternoon, 26 October, a new call circulated around Plaza Espanya, and police deployed a large operation there. Europa Press reported that no disturbances were recorded, although officers carried out some identity checks at metro exits.

Madrid, Bilbao and the alert across Spain

La Razón reported that Blocus said its planned Halloween event in Madrid had been cancelled, citing police attention and a wish not to repeat the mistakes of 24 October. The group nonetheless said the 'Halloween operation has failed' and that it would announce further developments, while acknowledging that new calls could still appear. The same newspaper reported that up to eleven cities were on alert for Saturday, with Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao reinforcing their deployments after clashes in Barcelona and Bilbao. Investigators are weighing a possible 'foreign interference', La Razón reported, and no hierarchical structure or leaders had been identified in the groups. ABC Tu Diario en Español reported that riots in Paris had been the breaking point for Telegram, which had warned group administrators several times before removing the groups.

Telegram's position

Telegram said in a statement that it backs the right to express oneself freely and to protest peacefully. It added a warning about the limits of its service.

“Incitement to violence and causing damage to property are expressly prohibited and are removed as soon as they are detected.”

Sources close to the app told La Razón that channels are removed for violating its terms of service, and that terrorism, violent acts and pirated content are among the categories it takes down. La Razón reported that a new group with more than 2,000 members had appeared after the closures, urging members to unite against the government. Saturday, 31 October, is the date the new calls target, and Mossos d'Esquadra said it was still tracing who or what stood behind the groups.