Violent far-left groups resurface across Spain, targeting politicians and public spaces

A wave of street violence attributed to radical left-wing groups has re-emerged throughout Spain, affecting major cities such as La Coruña, Menorca, Madrid and Barcelona. At a Vox rally in La Coruña, hooded demonstrators linked to the Riazor Blues football ultras attempted to breach the event, while later that week Abascal’s campaign van was pelted with stones on Menorca, leading the party Bambú to sue the government delegate for allowing the attack.

In Barcelona, roughly 300 young protesters assembled illegally in Sol, hurling objects, igniting containers and forcing shops to shutter. Police have traced participants to the Coordinadora de Jóvenes Socialistas (GKS), the Bukaneros ultras of Rayo Vallecano, and the proscribed Samidoun network, which was also reported at a Madrid encampment. Two men, Aratz Bilbao and Malen Grünig, identified as members of the hard-line Jardun Koordinadora, were arrested in Irún with alleged sensitive data on security personnel and placed in pre-trial detention for terrorism. Additional assaults, including the beating of journalist Elena Chaves and a group of soldiers in Berriozar, underscore the expanding scope of the unrest.