Malaga police dispel the ghost of 'Blocus' riot groups on Halloween

In Fuengirola, the police arrested a young man and a minor on suspicion of belonging to this radical movement. They were allegedly preparing to carry out acts of vandalism in the town.

The alarm bells had been ringing for days. Under the banner 'Blocus', various anonymous calls via instant messaging groups urged people to sow chaos, carry out coordinated looting of luxury shops and commit acts of vandalism on All Hallows' Eve.

The threat was no small matter: memories of disturbances in other cities, such as Barcelona and Bilbao, and the speed with which these messages spread led the National and the Local Police to coordinate a preventative operation.

The security measures were not confined to the historic centre of Malaga city. They strategically extended along the entire Costa del Sol, with particular emphasis on Marbella and Fuengirola, where surveillance had detected increased activity by these riot groups.

Fears were so high that, in the hours leading up to dusk, several shops and businesses in the centre of Malaga chose to board up their shop windows with timber or reinforce their locks to prevent any potential damage.

Diario Sur witnessed the events of the night from the heart of the operation, accompanying the National Police's Gotham group (the specialist unit that ensures security while the city sleeps) and the investigation and protection group of the Local Police.

Early in the evening, a sense of uncertainty still hung in the air. "Costumes work in the criminals' favour. Everyone is in disguise. They take advantage of the anonymity it provides and feel they can act with greater impunity," Gotham police officer Alejandro Monfrino said.

Despite initial concerns, preventive monitoring on social media and the police operation prevented any attempts at unrest. "Through our monitoring of social media, we learnt that there had initially been a call for a gathering on Calle Larios and another on Calle Teatinos. During our preliminary monitoring, we saw that they didn't seem to have many followers, but we still significantly reinforced our presence," Local Police deputy inspector Francisco Castillo explained.

The effectiveness of the measure was confirmed on the ground at the designated locations. "In Teatinos, there was supposed to be a gathering at the Fuente de Colores, but there was absolutely no one there. We'd only identified two potential hotspots for vandalism: Teatinos, where nothing happened, and Calle Larios, which was completely normal. We'll just have to keep patrolling," Castillo said.

Fuengirola stood out as the town where the gatherings appeared to pose the greatest risk. However, no incidents were actually recorded. Once shop closing time had passed, the threat had all but dissipated. "The aim of the 'Blocus' was to strike while shops were still open, seeking to create alarm and confusion among people in places such as shopping centres," the deputy inspector said.

The most pessimistic predictions came to nothing as the early hours wore on. The deployment of uniformed patrols on the main thoroughfares and in shopping areas, combined with the constant presence of plainclothes officers mingling among the crowd, nipped any hint of a disturbance in the bud. The operation was so visible that it acted as a deterrent. Throughout the night, police noted a smaller number of young people in the entertainment districts compared with previous years.

In addition to the two people arrested in Fuengirola, in the days leading up to Halloween, there had already been a forceful police response to these acts of vandalism. Investigations led to the arrest of several individuals involved in various provinces, including the alleged instigator of the movement in Spain, who is already in pre-trial detention following his arrest in Valencia, and other key organisers in Bilbao and Valencia.

In Malaga, police also arrested a 20-year-old man on Friday who was allegedly inciting people to cause disturbances and commit robberies using stones, petrol and extendable batons, planning to start fires at strategic locations to distract officers from the real commercial targets in Malaga city, Fuengirola and Marbella.

Ultimately, the combination of preventive measures, the fact that the calls for action received little real support and the subsequent heavy policing of the streets quashed any attempts at violent looting before they could begin.

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