Barcelona riots: Colau blames the far right as most arrests tell another story
Barcelona's mayor Ada Colau blames the far right for the riots and looting, while reports indicate most of those arrested are Spanish citizens of Maghrebi origin.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Colau blames the far right for the Barcelona looting
Who organizes a looting spree? In any criminology manual, that question would be answered with full names. In the official narrative, however, it answers itself: the far right. Barcelona's mayor, Ada Colau, attributed the riots and looting that swept the city to the far right — a diagnosis that, judging by the material available, is met with skepticism and a collective laugh. The problem, critics point out, is not just that the accusation lacks evidence: it is being made while shops in the city center are burning and the images circulate on social media.
The timeline matters. The Barcelona riots, the incidents in Salt, the disturbances in Bilbao and Cancelar, and the fallout from the Ceuta case unfold in a single political sequence, with the election campaign in the background and the Senate as a stage for vote-harvesting. In that context, blaming the far right works like an umbrella: it covers everything and explains nothing.
Does the far right even exist in Spain?
The first objection is straight out of the textbook: the far right does not exist in Spain, or at least not with the organizational strength the narrative attributes to it. The phrase, repeated ad nauseam, is ironic because it coexists with the opposite accusation: that the far right is behind every burned-out dumpster. Someone sums it up with a smirk: if it doesn't exist, who's to blame?
The evidence from the arrests reinforces the argument. According to the information circulating, most of those arrested in the Barcelona riots would be Spanish citizens of Maghrebi origin, and no prison sentences are expected. The fact dismantles the far-right conspiracy thesis, but it also raises another uncomfortable question: if the perpetrators don't fit the narrative, the narrative gets changed or buried.
The repeating pattern: Ceuta, Salt, Bilbao, Cancelar
The sequence is not isolated. In Salt, a CUP lawmaker justified the riots with an argument that deserves to go down in the annals: burning dumpsters is a cultural trait of its own. In Bilbao, the disturbances left a police officer gravely injured, vehicles burned out and family-owned shops destroyed amid chants of support for ETA. In Cancelar, more than a hundred people attacked the local police in the Rocafonda neighborhood. And in Ceuta, Secretary of State Pilar Cancela knew what was going to happen two days in advance, according to published reports.
The common thread is not the far right: it is the inability to anticipate, the passivity of the police forces, and the suspicion of political orders not to intervene. The Ertzaintza, the Basque regional police, was ordered to stand down during the Bilbao riots, according to the reports cited. Who gave that order? The question hangs in the air, with no official answer.
Housing as a smokescreen
While the dumpsters burn, the government faces a union strike over housing. The theory going around is that the executive is using antiestéticar of the far right as a smokescreen to cover up its own mismanagement. The shell game distracts, as the most repeated formulation goes. And the diagnosis is not far off: when the problem is the price of rent, the answer cannot be an imaginary enemy.
The connection to the electoral calendar is obvious. The PSOE, Spain's Socialist Party, expects thousands of useful votes from the Frente Amplio through the Senate's down-ballot effect on the Congress. The first miracle, they say, is making people believe victory is truly possible. Politics as miracle: that's the level we're at.
Hoaxes as a method and foreign interference as a wildcard
The conspiracy theory doesn't stop at the far right. The material also raises the suspicion of foreign interference: Russia, Israel, Segarro, Arab intelligence services. Anything goes, as long as no one looks at the ground. Some joke that the reptilians and the Illuminati organized it all — and they're not far off: the level of proof is about the same.
Team Jorge, an organization of Israeli contractors specializing in electoral manipulation, is cited as proof that destabilization exists. But one thing is for it to exist, and quite another for it to explain every riot. The distance between the two is what separates analysis from pamphlet.
In the end, the question remains unanswered: who organizes a looting spree? The mayor has it all figured out. Meanwhile, everyone else watches the neighborhood shops burn and waits for someone to deign to offer an explanation that doesn't involve the far right.
Who organizes a looting spree? In any criminology manual, that question would be answered with full names. In the official narrative, however, it answers itself: the far right. Barcelona's mayor, Ada Colau, attributed the riots and looting that swept the city to the far right — a diagnosis that, judging by the material available, is met with skepticism and a collective laugh. The problem, critics point out, is not just that the accusation lacks evidence: it is being made while shops in the city center are burning and the images circulate on social media.
The timeline matters. The Barcelona riots, the incidents in Salt, the disturbances in Bilbao and Cancelar, and the fallout from the Ceuta case unfold in a single political sequence, with the election campaign in the background and the Senate as a stage for vote-harvesting. In that context, blaming the far right works like an umbrella: it covers everything and explains nothing.
Does the far right even exist in Spain?
The first objection is straight out of the textbook: the far right does not exist in Spain, or at least not with the organizational strength the narrative attributes to it. The phrase, repeated ad nauseam, is ironic because it coexists with the opposite accusation: that the far right is behind every burned-out dumpster. Someone sums it up with a smirk: if it doesn't exist, who's to blame?
The evidence from the arrests reinforces the argument. According to the information circulating, most of those arrested in the Barcelona riots would be Spanish citizens of Maghrebi origin, and no prison sentences are expected. The fact dismantles the far-right conspiracy thesis, but it also raises another uncomfortable question: if the perpetrators don't fit the narrative, the narrative gets changed or buried.
The repeating pattern: Ceuta, Salt, Bilbao, Cancelar
The sequence is not isolated. In Salt, a CUP lawmaker justified the riots with an argument that deserves to go down in the annals: burning dumpsters is a cultural trait of its own. In Bilbao, the disturbances left a police officer gravely injured, vehicles burned out and family-owned shops destroyed amid chants of support for ETA. In Cancelar, more than a hundred people attacked the local police in the Rocafonda neighborhood. And in Ceuta, Secretary of State Pilar Cancela knew what was going to happen two days in advance, according to published reports.
The common thread is not the far right: it is the inability to anticipate, the passivity of the police forces, and the suspicion of political orders not to intervene. The Ertzaintza, the Basque regional police, was ordered to stand down during the Bilbao riots, according to the reports cited. Who gave that order? The question hangs in the air, with no official answer.
Housing as a smokescreen
While the dumpsters burn, the government faces a union strike over housing. The theory going around is that the executive is using antiestéticar of the far right as a smokescreen to cover up its own mismanagement. The shell game distracts, as the most repeated formulation goes. And the diagnosis is not far off: when the problem is the price of rent, the answer cannot be an imaginary enemy.
The connection to the electoral calendar is obvious. The PSOE, Spain's Socialist Party, expects thousands of useful votes from the Frente Amplio through the Senate's down-ballot effect on the Congress. The first miracle, they say, is making people believe victory is truly possible. Politics as miracle: that's the level we're at.
Hoaxes as a method and foreign interference as a wildcard
The conspiracy theory doesn't stop at the far right. The material also raises the suspicion of foreign interference: Russia, Israel, Segarro, Arab intelligence services. Anything goes, as long as no one looks at the ground. Some joke that the reptilians and the Illuminati organized it all — and they're not far off: the level of proof is about the same.
Team Jorge, an organization of Israeli contractors specializing in electoral manipulation, is cited as proof that destabilization exists. But one thing is for it to exist, and quite another for it to explain every riot. The distance between the two is what separates analysis from pamphlet.
In the end, the question remains unanswered: who organizes a looting spree? The mayor has it all figured out. Meanwhile, everyone else watches the neighborhood shops burn and waits for someone to deign to offer an explanation that doesn't involve the far right.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (98 replies).
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