Bilbao riots with pro-ETA chants as Basque police stand by

Bilbao: riots, pro-ETA chants and a police force that stood by

Bilbao saw a night of riots. Cars and containers set on fire, a police motorcycle burned out, shops looted and chants of support for the terrorist group ETA shouted openly in the street. The trigger, according to the narrative that took hold in the first hours, was an event called by activist Vito Quiles, which he eventually cancelled on the advice of the Ertzaintza. From there, the central fact that orders everything else: the protest went ahead without the event that supposedly motivated it.

The contradiction is hard to swallow. If the gathering existed to protest against Quiles' presence and Quiles never showed up, the continuation of the unrest leaves those who claimed it was all a spontaneous reaction without an argument. Some sum it up with a smirk: they came out to burn and loot over an event that had been cancelled, and since they were at it, they carried on. The logic of *just in case* applied to street furniture.

Who gave the order not to intervene

The point with the most traction is not the riots themselves, but the police response. The Ertzaintza was reportedly ordered not to intervene during the disturbances, according to complaints picked up in early reports, and some officers were allegedly sent home. The question hanging in the air is direct: who gave that order? Fingers point to the Spanish Government's delegate in Bilbao and, by extension, the Ministry of the Interior. None of this has been officially confirmed; these are accusations circulating publicly, and the Government itself has not forcefully denied them in the hours that trinc.

The pattern recalls other episodes where the political management of the street takes precedence over public safety. The hypothesis held by part of the commentariat is that the Executive benefits from a climate of controlled tension so it can later present itself as the only dam against the far right. The problem is that the calculation falls apart when the chants ringing out in the street are not against fascism, but in favour of a terrorist group.

The PSOE, the PNV and Bildu in the same picture

Images circulating online show youth wings of the PSOE, the PNV and Bildu cheering on a demonstration that descended into riots. The scene is particularly awkward for the Socialist Party, which has spent months building a narrative in which street violence is the exclusive preserve of the radical right. When the mayor of Bilbao calls the radicals fascists, the framework collapses entirely: the fascists, according to the mayor himself, would be those chanting *Gora ETA*.

Bildu, for its part, refused to sign the city council's statement condemning the pro-ETA chants. A detail that says more than any speech. The abertzale (Basque nationalist) party cannot condemn what part of its base cheers, and that silence speaks volumes.

The fascism label as a catch-all

The fascist label works as a catch-all. It is used to point at those who burn containers and at those who denounce the burning. On local television, blame was spread among Quiles, the far right and provocateurs, while avoiding naming the actual perpetrators of the damage. Some outlets spoke of *young people*, of *kids*, of *a few*. The liturgy of euphemism in its purest form.

The result is a narrative short circuit that benefits those who burn and hurts those who pay for the container. The people of Bilbao, meanwhile, watch their city become the stage for a political fight they never asked for.

The prediction, with every reservation in the world: if nobody clarifies who ordered the Ertzaintza to stand by, the matter will fade with the next news cycle. But a burned container is not forgotten as quickly as a headline.