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Police made 128 arrests overnight in Barcelona for acts of "vandalism," damage to public property, and "looting," the regional Catalan police said on Sunday.
Seventy-three of those arrested were minors, with the reports due to be sent "to the juvenile prosecutor's office", Catalan police chief Silvia Cata told Spain's 3CatInfo media outlet.
Footage on social media showed groups of young people, many clad in all-black, attacking businesses in Barcelona after gathering in the city center for a rally that had not been declared to the authorities.
The scenes come at a time when countries across Europe have been grappling with unrest, with France, Italy and Albania all seeing protests give way to incidents of looting and violence.
Cata said that only two of the 128 people detained in Barcelona had prior criminal records and said that a total of 15 officers had been injured during the night.
"This is gratuitous violence," the police chief said, noting 23 premises were vandalized.
While the movement was "completely disorganized," the call to rally had spread "on social media," Cata added.
The police were attempting to "study the profile" of those in custody, she said.
"Violence has no place in Catalonia. Ever," Catalonia's regional president, Salvador Illa, posted to X, demanding that the rioters "pay" for their actions.
With Spain now in a campaign for a Nov. 29 general election, the leader of the right-wing opposition, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, called for "a change" for Spain "that emerges from the ballot box, with freedom and respect.
"Coexistence requires responsibility, not enabling those who endanger it," he added.
Spain’s housing crisis has become a top political issue, with average rents almost doubling over the past decade, according to real estate website Idealista.
Protests erupted in September after 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal was evicted from her Madrid apartment of decades, and they swelled when parliament rejected the government’s tenant relief measures on Oct. 2.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose minority government relies on Junts, then called a general election for Nov. 29, more than a year ahead of schedule.
The unrest comes as countries across Europe, including France, Italy and Albania, see protests driven by similar concerns such as housing and the cost of living.
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