Clashes broke out in Barcelona as extremists hijacked an anti-Israel march, injuring police and targeting businesses linked to Israel.
Barcelona descended into chaos on Saturday night as violent clashes erupted during an anti-Israel demonstration, leaving 20 police officers injured and resulting in eight arrests, according to local authorities.
While organizers claimed the protest was peaceful, extremist elements within the crowd vandalized shops and businesses they accused of “supporting Israel,” including a branch of the French supermarket chain Carrefour, which operates in Israel.
Spanish media reported that the attackers smashed windows, sprayed graffiti, and threw objects at police, prompting riot officers to intervene.
The protest, which drew an estimated 70,000 participants, was part of a series of coordinated anti-Israel rallies across southern Europe, sparked by Israel’s interception of a flotilla attempting to breach the naval blockade on Gaza.
Similar demonstrations also took place in Madrid, as well as in major cities in Italy and Portugal, where protesters accused Israel of “crimes against humanity” — despite Israel’s legal blockade being recognized internationally as a counterterrorism measure aimed at preventing weapons smuggling to Hamas.
Most participants reportedly demonstrated peacefully, though police sources noted that radical pro-Palestinian factions infiltrated the crowd, turning parts of the rally into a violent anti-Israel riot.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned the vandalism, calling it “a dangerous resurgence of antisemitic violence disguised as political protest.”
“There is no justification for attacking Jews or Israeli-linked businesses anywhere in the world,” an Israeli official said. “Violence in Europe will not aid Gazans — it only fuels hatred.”
