Nineteen detainees, including seven minors, for incidents in Bilbao following demonstrations against Vito Quiles

The Ertzaintza arrested 19 people and investigated three others on Monday in Bilbaofor the burning of cars and containers and looting of shops by some people following demonstrations against the ultra-right-wing Vito Quiles.

The detainees include seven minors , three 18-year-old and one 19-year-old, while the remaining eight are still under investigation, while the other three under investigation are a 17-year-old and two 22-year-old, according to Ertzaintza.

Demonstrations against Vito Quiles

Convened by anti-fascist groups, thousands of people took part this afternoon, prior to the riots, in demonstrations near the University of Deusto campus to protest against the Vito Quiles event, and at noon thousands of students demonstrated in the city centre for the same reason.

The university decided tosuspend all its academic activity\ u00A0 and close the campus in the afternoon in anticipation of possible incidents, a decision not shared by the Director of Science, Universities and Innovation, Juan Ignacio Pérez Iglesias, who did not consider it "correct".

Finally, Quiles himself announced on social media that he had cancelled the event for security reasons.

Facts

Around the scheduled time of the event, around 7 p.m., after the rally was dissolved, hundreds of people went to Lehendakari Agirre Avenue, where they set fire to a City Guard motorcycle and dozens of garbage containers taken to the centreofthe road, and then threw stones at the Ertzainas  and the Ertzaintza police station in the Deusto district.

Shortly before, hooded men set fire to a building container on Francesc Macià Street, near Lehendakari Aguirre Avenue, and fired rockets and stones at the officers.

The riots were then moved to Euskadi Square, next to the Deusto Bridge, and to the city centre, where half a dozen vehicles and containers were burned.

Reactions

President Imanol Pradales has expressed his "deep concern" about these "unacceptable" incidents and said, "That's enough.

For her part, EH Bildu 's spokeswoman at the Bilbao City Council, María del Río Pereda, has written on social network X that the coalition has expressed its "absolute rejection" of the "regrettable events" that have taken place in Bilbao "following popular, peaceful and democratic responses."

The mayor of Bilbao, Juan Mari Aburto, has strongly condemned what happened and has described the incidents as "terrifying". He has said that "they are not anti-fascists; they are true fascists" and has stressed that "those who have drunk from sources of violence act violently".

PSE-EESecretary General Eneko Andueza has condemned "vandalism" and added that "in the face of provocation, the answer can never be violence."

The Basque PP"strongly condemns the extreme incidents that make confrontation, violence and crime their way of proceeding." "Such acts have no place in a democratic society," said the people.

ErNE reports police operation was "hastily" dismantled

The Independent Union of the Ertzaintza, ErNE, has described as "particularly serious" the fact that it has begun to dismantle a previously planned and deployed police apparatus to deal with a known risk situation with a "precipitation that is difficult to justify".

He has therefore demanded explanations and accountability from the police headquarters for the management of the security apparatus deployed throughout the day. "The suspension of an action does not automatically lead to the disappearance of the danger, especially when there are numerous concentrations, a climate of tension and obvious possibility of riots," he has argued.

The union's Secretary General, Julio González Euspel , has shown his revulsion at "the qualitative leap that radicals have made in trying to get to the police station," believing that the goal was to have a "direct battle" with the Ertzainas and then "destroy the city."

Esan, for his part, has denounced "fascist and aggressive attitudes" in Bilbao.