BLM riots come to Catalonia

Catalan regional daily El Periódico reported that shops were attacked and a supermarket looted after an race protest in Salt (Girona).

The Mossos d’Esquadra [Catalan regional police] are assessing the damage to vehicles and shops resulting from a protest that took place last Monday in Salt over the death of the black citizen George Floyd in the United States.

According to the information provided by the police department, which is looking for the perpetrators, some 150 persons initially gathered in Salt, but the number rose to 500, after which a rock was thrown at a police van and there were other attacks against a car and a public transport bus.

The damage includes a vandalized bank, a restaurant, urban equipment [as in benches, traffic lights, etc.] and damage suffered when the Salt protest moved to neighboring Girona, where the looting of a supermarket occurred, according to the Efe news agency.

The police have started an investigation, and they will record the complaints filed by owners of the shops and buildings attacked.

AfroVibes, the association that organized the demonstration, denied their responsibility for the sad events, and they reassured the public that these happened after the protest was declared finished, according to the ACN news agency.

The group regrets what happened and has apologized to those who have suffered. Furthermore, they reminded the public that some twenty demonstrators followed behind the violent ones to pick up the rubbish bins that were knocked over. AfroVibes defended the “pacifist” nature of the protest.