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IN PICS: Barcelona protests turn violent

The streets of central Barcelona were left strewn with burnt-out debris on Saturday morning after the fifth day of protests descended into a pitched battle with police.

Published: 19 October 2019 09:30 CEST
IN PICS: Barcelona protests turn violent

After the Friday's massive but largely peaceful rally in Barcelona, the trouble started when a group of radical separatists began massing around the city's police headquarters.

Riot police responded by charging the protesters, and advancing on them to keep them at a safe distance. 

Photo: Pau Barrena/AFP

Photo: Pau Barrena/AFP

Protesters were defiant, however, taunting police and soon after starting to use rubbish bins, street signs, and other street furniture to create a barricade. 

Photo: Pau Barrena/AFP

Photo: Pau Barrena/AFP

Photo: Pau Barrena/AFP

Protesters set alight plastic bins. 

Photo: Pau Barrena/AFP

As the protests worsened, Spanish police responded increasingly heavy-handedly, charging protesters, and wielding batons to disperse them. According to the city's emergency services, about 152 people were injured during the clashes. 

Photo: Josep Lago/AFP

By the early evening, a pitched battle had broken out, with protesters huddling behind makeshift barricades, throwing stones and other objects at police. Some were photographed using catapults and flare guns. 

Police fired tear gas to try and disperse the crowd. 

Photo: Pau Barrena/AFP

Photo: Pau Barrena/AFP

Photo: Pau Barrena/AFP

Photo: Pau Barrena/AFP

Photo: Pau Barrena/AFP

Photo: Pau Barrena/AFP

Later in the evening, police sent in trucks with water cannons to disperse the crowd and put out some of the fires. 

Photo: Pau Barrena/AFP

By the time the protests had ended, the centre of the city was strewn with burnt out debris and broken barriers and street furniture.

Photo: Josep Lago/AFP

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PROTESTS

Calls for special police tactics to be available across Sweden

The chairwoman of the Police Association West Region has said that police special tactics, known as Särskild polistaktik or SPT, should be available across Sweden, to use in demonstrations similar to those during the Easter weekend.

Published: 24 April 2022 15:56 CEST
Calls for special police tactics to be available across Sweden

SPT, (Särskild polistaktik), is a tactic where the police work with communication rather than physical measures to reduce the risk of conflicts during events like demonstrations.

Tactics include knowledge about how social movements function and how crowds act, as well as understanding how individuals and groups act in a given situation. Police may attempt to engage in collaboration and trust building, which they are specially trained to do.

Katharina von Sydow, chairwoman of the Police Association West Region, told Swedish Radio P4 West that the concept should exist throughout the country.

“We have nothing to defend ourselves within 10 to 15 metres. We need tools to stop this type of violent riot without doing too much damage,” she said.

SPT is used in the West region, the South region and in Stockholm, which doesn’t cover all the places where the Easter weekend riots took place.

In the wake of the riots, police unions and the police’s chief safety representative had a meeting with the National Police Chief, Anders Tornberg, and demanded an evaluation of the police’s work. Katharina von Sydow now hopes that the tactics will be introduced everywhere.

“This concept must exist throughout the country”, she said.

During the Easter weekend around 200 people were involved in riots after a planned demonstration by anti-Muslim Danish politician Rasmus Paludan and his party Stram Kurs (Hard Line), that included the burning of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

Police revealed on Friday that at least 104 officers were injured in counter-demonstrations that they say were hijacked by criminal gangs intent on targeting the police. 

Forty people were arrested and police are continuing to investigate the violent riots for which they admitted they were unprepared. 

Paludan’s application for another demonstration this weekend was rejected by police.

In Norway on Saturday, police used tear gas against several people during a Koran-burning demonstration after hundreds of counter-demonstrators clashed with police in the town of Sandefjord.

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