Madrid and Barcelona face Saturday, October 31, with police vigilance in light of calls to repeat the disturbances and looting recorded last weekend in the Catalan capital. The coincidence with Halloween adds a relevant circumstance: the calls circulate for a day of great activity in the streets, with celebrations, shopping, and movements of families and groups of young people.
The situation, however, is different in both cities. In Madrid, accounts linked to Blocus have announced the cancellation of their call, but the National Police maintains a preventive device. In Barcelona, the Mossos are following the new calls spread on social media and are working to prevent attacks on establishments and urban furniture from being reproduced.
The available information does not allow for anticipating a night of widespread violence. It does confirm the circulation of messages that encourage crimes and a police response to prevent its. There is also a precedent that is worth keeping in mind: some calls following the disturbances in Barcelona have not gathered anyone, despite their dissemination on the internet.
What is planned for October 31: scattered calls and contradictory messages
There is no single and verifiable program of events under the Blocus label. The analyzed publications present discrepancies in schedules, meeting places, and even dates. Some profiles were spreading invitations for Halloween while others indicated different days.
This lack of a common call matters. A poster shared thousands of times does not confirm how many people will attend, who organizes it, or if it will still be valid a few hours later. Not all publications also have the same content: alongside violent messages, verifiers have located posters asking to avoid personal and material damage.
The starting point for this Saturday is, therefore, a combination of specific threats spread in certain groups, changing calls, and preventive surveillance. Not a confirmed calendar of incidents.
| Scope | What is known | What cannot be taken for granted |
|---|---|---|
| Madrid | Accounts linked to Blockade announce the cancellation. The Police maintain preventive surveillance. | That all accounts have withdrawn their calls or that incidents will occur. |
| Barcelona | Calls for the 31st persist. The Mossos monitor social networks and prepare preventive measures. | Actual attendance, a unique route, or a general closure of businesses and transport. |
| Social networks | Telegram groups that spread messages inciting looting have been closed. | That all activity linked to that label has disappeared. |
Preparation based on information from EFE, 20minutos, Newtral, and Cadena SER. The situation may change: check official notices before traveling.
What is Blockade and who is behind the messages
Blockade, a French term associated with the blocking of educational centers, is used as a label on profiles that call for mobilization in different cities. Its shared use does not alone demonstrate that there is a single organization with an identified direction.
EFE Verifica has located dozens of accounts on TikTok, Telegram, and WhatsApp with heterogeneous messages and claims. Its analysis gathers indications of manipulation and doubts about the spontaneous nature of the dissemination, but does not identify a single promoter or a common roadmap.
VerificaRTVE has documented how open publications on TikTok directed interested parties to private messaging groups. In some of those spaces, messages encouraging damage and looting appeared. This difference between the public poster and the private conversation helps explain why a call presented as a protest may harbor different objectives among its participants.
The similarity with images and slogans from other countries is also not enough to attribute a foreign direction. The report from Golden Owl collected by Infobae expressly states that the analyzed elements do not prove common operators, sponsors, or coordination with organizations from abroad.
What the messages say: threats against businesses and agents
La Razón publishes this Wednesday conversations from groups linked to Blockade that include calls to loot establishments, set containers on fire, and assault police officers. According to the newspaper, some administrators also suggest taking advantage of the Halloween celebration to facilitate those actions.
They are serious messages due to their content, but their publication does not allow knowing how many people are willing to carry them out. The identification of the authors and the determination of possible responsibilities correspond to the investigation.
Madrid maintains prevention despite the canceled "Halloween operation"
"The Halloween operation has failed." That is one of the phrases disseminated by accounts announcing the withdrawal of the Madrid call. The message appears after the attempt to concentrate the previous Saturday did not reproduce the incidents of Barcelona in Madrid.
The cancellation on social media has not meant the withdrawal of the device. According to police sources cited by 20minutos, the National Police maintains a forecast of 80 agents to prevent possible disturbances.
The reason is that the messages from accounts without a clear representation do not offer sufficient guarantees about the behavior of other profiles or groups. Surveillance is maintained even though the sources consulted by that medium express their confidence that no incidents will occur.
Barcelona: monitoring of calls and closure of channels
The Mossos are working on two fronts: investigating the events of the past Saturday and anticipating possible replicas. EFE describes a monitoring of social media to assess new calls and prepare deployments, even in the face of calls that later turn out to be unsuccessful.
The action also extends to digital platforms. El País reports the closure of three Telegram groups following the actions channeled by the Mossos through the National Unit for the Withdrawal of Illegal Content on the Internet, dependent on CITCO. The intervention of that agency does not, by itself, equate to a qualification of the events as terrorism.
One of the closed groups had more than 2,000 members. That figure describes the size of the chat, not the number of people who will attend a concentration or participate in crimes.
What can happen on Halloween and what remains unknown
There are several possible scenarios. The calls may go unanswered, translate into concentrations without incidents, or lead to localized disturbances. What happened the previous weekend justifies the prevention, but does not allow assigning a reliable probability to each outcome.
Neither do the consulted information allow announcing a general closure of the center of Madrid or Barcelona, a global suspension of celebrations, or the interruption of the entire transport network.
On Saturday, it will be more useful to know the specific notices about a street, an access, or a station than to follow a series of videos without verified location or date.
What to do if you go out on October 31 and find incidents
Civil Protection of the Generalitat recommends consulting official information before going to crowded places, locating exits, and agreeing on a meeting point with companions. If you are going with minors, it is advisable that they carry a contact phone.
If an emergency begins, remain calm, follow the instructions of security services, and leave the area through the marked routes. Avoid running, pushing, or stopping at doors and hallways. Do not return to the focus of the incident.
If, once safe, you cannot locate a person from your group, inform the emergency services. In the event of a personal or collective emergency, call 112.
The practical recommendation is not to approach a fight, a fire, or a charge to record. If a business temporarily keeps its customers inside for safety, follow the instructions of the staff and agents on how to exit.
What to check before going out and before forwarding a notice
Consult the official channels of Mossos d'Esquadra, Guàrdia Urbana, and Civil Protection in Barcelona; and those of Policía Nacional, Policía Municipal, and Emergencias Madrid in the capital. For travel, check the incidents reported by the transport operator you are going to use.
At home, especially if someone is going out with friends, it is useful to agree on the planned place, how to return, and how to notify a change of plan. An invitation that arrives through a private group and continuously changes location deserves to be verified before following it.
Before forwarding a video, check when it was published, where it was recorded, and if it really shows a current event. VerificaRTVE has identified posters generated with artificial intelligence within this dissemination: an image of a burning street may be propaganda for a call and not a photograph of something that is happening.