Businesses in the heart of Madrid, on commercial arteries such as Gran Vía or Montera, have begun to protect their shop windows, even boarding them up in the middle of the All Saints’ bridge and Halloween, amid fears that looting like that which occurred in Barcelona last weekend will be repeated in the capital, following calls for vandalism linked to the Blocus platform spread on social media.
The disturbances in the Catalan city left 130 people arrested, mostly minors, and fourteen officers injured, in addition to shops attacked and damage to street furniture and vehicles.
In Madrid, warnings have circulated about a possible call related to Blocus, although it is being considered that it may have been canceled. The City Council remains cautious. "There are some reports saying that those calls may have been canceled, but evidently we cannot be certain that that will indeed happen," the deputy mayor, delegate for Security and Emergencies and municipal spokesperson, Inma Sanz, said this week.
For this reason, the City Council will reinforce the security operation during Halloween and All Saints’ Day, with 1,700 officers deployed during the holiday days, in addition to the municipal police on ordinary duty ready to reinforce shifts if necessary, in coordination with the National Police in the face of possible calls for acts of vandalism on Friday and Saturday.
This same Friday, the Guardia Civil has arrested in Picanya (Valencia) the "alleged founder and main promoter" in Spain of the Blocus movement, which it links to calls spread on social media that, under the appearance of student protests, sought to promote looting in businesses and violent episodes. The detained person is attributed with the creation and management of Telegram groups from which these actions were coordinated, according to what the Armed Institute has reported.
Almeida backs a firm police response
The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has sent a direct message to the security forces not to hesitate to intervene. He has asked the Police not to let their "hand tremble" and to "adopt any measure they consider at each moment that they must adopt to avoid disturbances" in the capital.
Almeida has admitted that he "does not trust in the slightest" the possible call-off of platforms such as Blocus, which have called for generating disturbances in different cities, and he has insisted that from the City Council they "will be alert". "We do not trust it and we are going to remain alert for any situation that may arise, be able to prevent it and, where appropriate, restore public order as soon as possible," he assured.
Inma Sanz has backed the mayor's message, calling for "acting with all firmness" in the face of the possibility of serious vandalistic episodes, such as those already experienced in Barcelona or Bilbao.
"In the face of those possible criminal acts, the Police have to act with all firmness and will have the total and complete support of the Madrid City Council," she stressed. The deputy mayor also warned that "if someone wants to come to blow up the streets of Madrid or to burn them down, they will encounter a firm police response," something that, she recalled, is what "a Rule of Law must do in defense of its citizens and in defense of peaceful coexistence".
Previous calls and blow to commerce
The municipal head of Security recalled that "that kind of vandalistic and urban guerrilla acts that have taken place in Bilbao and Barcelona had a call for them to also happen in Madrid last Saturday. It did not happen, fortunately".
"What we have to do is be very alert that those situations may be carried out in the coming weeks and put all the personnel and everything within our power to try to prevent them," Sanz insisted, advancing that the deployments for this long weekend "are going to be extensive" and with "a very massive police presence in the street".
The fear that has spread among the merchants of the center comes in the middle of the All Saints' holiday, with Halloween consolidated as a major attraction, just before Black Friday and the start of the Christmas campaign.
Added to the concern over a possible call for vandalism is the calculation of losses in the businesses around Sol, the most affected by the encampment that arose in defense of the right to housing.
The City Council already estimates the drop in income at 30% compared with the same period of the previous year, on the eve of Christmas, one of the periods of highest turnover. "There is some business that has already had to lay off someone and we are approaching the Christmas season, which accounts for approximately between 70 and 80% of everything they generate throughout the year," Almeida pointed out at the 'Desayunos Madrid', organized by Europa Press.