40,000 people celebrate in the Catalan capital over the weekend. The mostly peaceful parties are overshadowed by violence: cars burn, shops are looted, there are injuries.
Barcelona – In the Catalan capital of Barcelona, tens of thousands of young people met for huge open-air parties over the weekend.
The occasion was the city festival La Mercè, which is held in honor of the city’s patroness La Mercè on September 24th. On the sidelines, especially on Saturday night, when an estimated 40,000 people celebrated mostly peacefully, there were serious riots by smaller groups of young people, as the newspaper “La Vanguardia” reported. There were no political demands, it was “violence for the sake of violence”.
Cars, motorcycles and plastic dumpsters were set on fire, windows smashed, shops looted and traffic signs demolished. 34 participants were injured, some of them by knife wounds. Five police officers also had to receive medical treatment. There have been 22 arrests.
Heavy fines for alcohol in public
The security forces were overwhelmed by the sheer mass of people. There were also several outdoor parties on Sunday night, but with less violence.
Such outdoor parties, often high in alcohol, called “botellones” in Spain, are prohibited and drinking alcohol in public can result in heavy fines. The indoor areas of discos in Catalonia are still closed due to Corona, which is why young people are moving to public places.
The corona situation in Spain is currently very relaxed, the number of new infections is low, the situation in the hospitals has calmed down and the vaccination campaign is well advanced. dpa
