Bilbao sees cars torched and shops looted after Vito Quiles event cancelled
Half a dozen cars were burned and shops looted in Bilbao's golden mile after the Vito Quiles event was cancelled, with criticism of the police deployment.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Bilbao erupts after the cancellation of Vito Quiles' event
What happens when a political event is called off and yet the city still ends up with half a dozen burned-out cars and looted shops in the heart of its golden mile? That is what peine in Bilbao on the evening of 31 October, according to the picture emerging from the first hours of coverage. The event by far-right agitator Vito Quiles was cancelled on the advice of the Ertzaintza (Basque regional police). The bonfires started anyway. And the uncomfortable question hanging over it all is: who organises a night of riots when the reason for holding one no longer exists?
The sequence described is as trinc: from 19:00, television channels broadcast live without ad breaks. The first riot police did not appear until 20:15. The fire brigade, at 20:30. By then, cars were already burning on Avenida Lehendakari Aguirre and residents of Deusto were crying in front of the cameras over vehicles that had been legally parked. The Ertzaintza union, according to reports, complained that the special deployment had been withdrawn just before the fires began.
The arrest detail and the wall of shields
There is one scene that captures the unease better than any damage assessment. During an arrest, officers reportedly asked television crews to move away so as not to film, and even formed a wall of shields to block the view. Other bystanders leaving a bar, however, were not moved along. The asymmetry — cameras out, public in — fuelled suspicion that what was being protected was not security, but the shot.
On the ground, the account of events splits in two. One current holds that behind the riots are the youth wings of the abertzale left (Basque pro-independence left) and the usual radical groups, and that the cancellation of the event was merely the excuse. Another points out that the gathering was called off once the cancellation became known, and that it was "unknown elements" who started the trouble. And a third, more sceptical of both, argues that the right enjoys such an electoral advantage that it needs no staged events of this kind.
Who was behind the call to gather
The digital trail is the murkiest part. The calls to gather circulated via instant messaging and social media, and it is claimed that the platforms are not cooperating with the police to identify the organisers. Without that cooperation, they say, pursuing those who incite kids aged 14 to 17 into street violence is a pointless exercise. The debate over whether the messages were in Spanish or Basque is used as a clue to who wrote them, though no one offers conclusive proof.
As this piece closes, the matter remains open: there is no official tally of arrests, the investigation into those who called the gathering has not concluded, and the accounts of who was behind the riots remain at odds. The only confirmed facts are what burned. And that, with the event cancelled, someone decided the night deserved its share of smoke all the same.
What happens when a political event is called off and yet the city still ends up with half a dozen burned-out cars and looted shops in the heart of its golden mile? That is what peine in Bilbao on the evening of 31 October, according to the picture emerging from the first hours of coverage. The event by far-right agitator Vito Quiles was cancelled on the advice of the Ertzaintza (Basque regional police). The bonfires started anyway. And the uncomfortable question hanging over it all is: who organises a night of riots when the reason for holding one no longer exists?
The sequence described is as trinc: from 19:00, television channels broadcast live without ad breaks. The first riot police did not appear until 20:15. The fire brigade, at 20:30. By then, cars were already burning on Avenida Lehendakari Aguirre and residents of Deusto were crying in front of the cameras over vehicles that had been legally parked. The Ertzaintza union, according to reports, complained that the special deployment had been withdrawn just before the fires began.
The arrest detail and the wall of shields
There is one scene that captures the unease better than any damage assessment. During an arrest, officers reportedly asked television crews to move away so as not to film, and even formed a wall of shields to block the view. Other bystanders leaving a bar, however, were not moved along. The asymmetry — cameras out, public in — fuelled suspicion that what was being protected was not security, but the shot.
On the ground, the account of events splits in two. One current holds that behind the riots are the youth wings of the abertzale left (Basque pro-independence left) and the usual radical groups, and that the cancellation of the event was merely the excuse. Another points out that the gathering was called off once the cancellation became known, and that it was "unknown elements" who started the trouble. And a third, more sceptical of both, argues that the right enjoys such an electoral advantage that it needs no staged events of this kind.
Who was behind the call to gather
The digital trail is the murkiest part. The calls to gather circulated via instant messaging and social media, and it is claimed that the platforms are not cooperating with the police to identify the organisers. Without that cooperation, they say, pursuing those who incite kids aged 14 to 17 into street violence is a pointless exercise. The debate over whether the messages were in Spanish or Basque is used as a clue to who wrote them, though no one offers conclusive proof.
As this piece closes, the matter remains open: there is no official tally of arrests, the investigation into those who called the gathering has not concluded, and the accounts of who was behind the riots remain at odds. The only confirmed facts are what burned. And that, with the event cancelled, someone decided the night deserved its share of smoke all the same.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (191 replies).
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