100 arrested after Barcelona rally turns to looting and fires

One hundred people were arrested in Barcelona after looting and fires followed an anti-establishment rally on Saturday, October 24, according to Catalonia’s interior minister and reports of the arrests. The disorder occurred around the central Plaza de Catalunya, where hooded demonstrators smashed shop windows, took goods and set fires to street furniture. Núria Parlon, Catalonia’s interior minister, said about 25% of those detained were minors. She also reported more than 30 fires and 14 stores vandalised or looted. The figures were attributed to Parlon; the reports did not provide independent tallies of the damage. Social-media video showed people dressed in black breaking shop windows and carrying away merchandise. Other footage showed people inside shops after security shutters had been lowered, including at the department store El Corte Inglés. The videos document visible acts and people inside shuttered premises, but do not establish who organized the gathering or who was responsible for each incident. Social-media posts promoted a movement described as “against the system” under the name Institut Indignats. The name echoes Lyceés Indignés, a phrase used in connection...