Police Crackdown on Blocus Movement Ahead of Halloween Protests in Spain

Law enforcement agencies across Spain have launched a sweeping offensive against members of the Blocus movement over the past 48 hours, resulting in numerous arrests in cities such as Barcelona, Valencia, and Bilbao. The crackdown comes amid high alerts for potential riots and looting coordinated through social media channels ahead of the Halloween weekend.

In Picanya, Valencia, authorities arrested the alleged founder and primary promoter of the movement in Spain on Friday. According to the Civil Guard, the suspect created and administered Telegram groups that organized actions under the guise of student protests with the objective of inciting commercial looting and violent altercations. Investigators linked this network to riots on October 24 that involved approximately 500 participants.

Additional arrests followed in Alfafar, Valencia, where an 18-year-old was detained for allegedly instigating public disorder and the use of Molotov cocktails, alongside a 17-year-old minor detained earlier in the week. In Catalonia, the regional police reported three arrests, including a teenager identified as the administrator of a channel responsible for a severe riot last Saturday that left 15 police officers injured, 23 stores looted, and 128 individuals detained, most of them minors.

In Bilbao, the National Police arrested a 20-year-old man accused of managing a social media account that promoted a demonstration and urged participants to cause disturbances in the city center. Meanwhile, the Civil Guard detained two individuals in Tenerife, including a minor, for leading the movement locally.

The Blocus movement, which mirrors the French Lycées Indignés initiative, utilizes digital manipulation tactics, QR codes, and messaging apps like Telegram and WhatsApp to instruct participants to wear black, conceal their faces, carry pyrotechnics, and target specific commercial zones for vandalism.

In response to the threats of violence, local governments have deployed heavy security forces for the All Saints' bridge holiday. In Madrid, over 500 National and Municipal police officers have been organized into a special containment task force. Similar high-security measures and intelligence units have been activated by the Basque Government in Bilbao and the Department of Interior in Catalonia to protect major commercial districts.