In the basement of one of the bars next to Ferraz Street, the headquarters of the PSOE in Madrid and where the protests against the amnesty agreement between the incumbent government and the Catalan independents are concentrated these days, dozens of young people gathered on Tuesday afternoon. Almost all between 20 and 30 years old. All boys (not a woman) with similar clothing: trainers, tight jogging pants or jeans, sweatshirts and black hooded Anoraks from The North Face or similar, in most cases. And many with scarves or panties that allowed them to partially cover their faces. They drank beer from the early afternoon, while people gathered outside with banners, symbols and flags of Spain in various formats, cheering each other on between drinks with patriotic and anti-sanchist comments and shouts: “No, no.” It could his brother! “That we have a president who has placed the government in the hands of those who want to destroy Spain! These sons of bitches!” All with their cell phones in their hands, streaming after the protest, the echo of which could be heard on Instagram. Everyone was waiting for a call that would come two hours later, around 10 p.m.
“Now! Already! For you!”. In a matter of seconds and with bottles in hand, they left the bar they had occupied on both floors. The premises that served as headquarters that night were completely empty. Outside, they stood up and shouted “Let’s go, let’s go!” and began throwing the objects they were carrying in their hands at the riot police. They blew up the chairs of the restaurants and bars they found along the way and hoarded whatever street furniture they could. In batches. From the front to the back. Withdraw under police pressure and, if necessary, take refuge in the premises again. “You hit the Guerra, he ran away,” they commented, crouching behind a glass pane in front of a column of agents equipped with helmets and shields. According to police sources, none of the six people arrested on Tuesday evening are known to police nor are they associated with these violent groups.
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“It is the usual behavior of the ultras of Frente Atlético and Ultra Sur; They gather at their bar headquarters, drink their asses up and then when it’s already hot enough, they get the warning and go out to screw it up and unleash all their violence because that’s their only goal, to justify yourself. the fun of giving free rein to their aggression,” analyzes an agent from the National Police Information Service who has been monitoring these groups for years. “And now that they can no longer do it in the stadiums, they do it here, for example in Ferraz, or wherever they are called,” he adds. The procedure was repeated on Thursday evening in the same place on Ferraz Street in Madrid, near the PSOE’s national headquarters, between hooligan-like chants and confrontations with the police during the Charges that broke up the arguments.
Police experts from these groups and other ultra-movements, which have reactivated hundreds of violent people these days, have identified members of these sports factions and other extreme movements around the demonstrations in front of the socialist headquarters in Madrid. right-wing almost extinct or fleeting and opportunistic like Falange, National Democracy, Frontal Bastion, Social Home, Creating a Nation, Desokupa, Solidarity, Revolt… “In reality they are few, they alone have no strength for anything, they do it “Don’t.” I don’t move anything. “That’s why they use these calls to regain some visibility,” they explain.
Appearing in one of the streets of Madrid during the riots this Thursday. Photo: SAMUEL SANCHEZ
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Since Francisco Javier Romero Taboada, aka Jimmy and Ultra of the Riazor Blues, was allegedly beaten to death by members of the Atlético Front in 2014, the violent ones were banned from football clubs and lost much of the VIP treatment that was always offered in many sports stadiums more invisible, scattered and banished to their surroundings.
However, in these days of protests in Ferraz, not all violent people fueled up at the bar. Others, with the same looks as hooligans and bodies trained in gyms, drank and smoked on the streets next to the protest, in cars parked nearby or at the exit from nearby stores owned by Chinese citizens where they bought their beer: “Go away . put more [cervezas] Green stuff in the fridge!” they shouted at the shop owner, commenting on whether one of them had brought brass knuckles (a steel weapon that is placed around the fingers of the hand). They behave as observers for hours, not coming to confront the police who are detaining the leader of the concentration or even to make physical contact with the participants of the protest. They are experts in turbulent brawls and wait (drinking) for the moment to act.
Some of the radicals burned street furniture in Madrid. Samuel Sanchez 
Several demonstrators hold Spanish flags during clashes with police this Thursday in Madrid. Samuel Sanchez
Those gathered in the front row of the Madrid protest in front of the PSOE headquarters on Ferraz Street light a flare.Samuel Sanchez
Several people during a sit-in on Ferraz Street. Samuel Sanchez
Concentration this Thursday in front of the PSPV-PSOE headquarters in Valencia against the investiture pacts of the incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Biel Aliño (EFE)
Protesters throw fireworks at police on Ferraz Street in Madrid. NACHO TWELVE (Portal)
They were concentrated in the front row of the Madrid protests in front of the PSOE headquarters in Madrid. Samuel Sanchez
This Thursday, anti-amnesty protesters gathered in front of the PSOE headquarters on Ferraz Street in Madrid. Samuel Sanchez
A young man with a megaphone took part in the protest this Thursday in front of the headquarters of the European Parliament on Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid. Samuel Sanchez
During the anti-amnesty demonstration in front of the PSOE headquarters in Madrid, demonstrators displayed a flag with the motto #SanchezVeteYa. PIERRE PHILIPPE MARCOU (AFP)
Demonstrators wave Spanish flags during the protest in front of the PSOE headquarters on Ferraz con Marqués de Urquijo street in Madrid.Samuel Sánchez
Police cordon off the corner of Ferraz Street and Marqués de Urquijo Street in Madrid during the anti-amnesty protest. Samuel Sanchez
Concentration in front of the PSPV-PSOE headquarters in Valencia against the pact of PSOE and Junts.Biel Aliño (EFE)
A moment of demonstration against the amnesty that took place this Thursday in front of the government delegation in Barcelona. Enric Fontcuberta (EFE)
A man holds up a Spanish flag without a sign in front of the PSOE headquarters on Ferraz Street in Madrid this Thursday. Samuel Sanchez
The meeting against the amnesty took place this Thursday at the PSOE headquarters in Toledo. Ángeles Visdómine (EFE)
Several hundred people are taking part in the rally this Thursday on Princesa de Murcia Street, where the regional headquarters of the PSOE is located, to protest against the amnesty law. Marcial Guillén (EFE)
Young people lit candles this Thursday during the demonstration in front of the European Parliament headquarters in Madrid. SUSANA VERA (Portal)
Flags of Spain and Catalonia are waved by demonstrators in front of the PSOE headquarters in Madrid.Samuel Sánchez
Dozens of people left the European Parliament headquarters in Madrid towards Ferraz Street against the amnesty. Matias Chiofalo (Europa Press)
A demonstrator shows a picture of the Immaculate Conception in front of the socialist headquarters in Madrid.Samuel Sánchez
The President of VOX in Murcia and Vice President of the Regional Government, José Ángel Antelo (third from the left), accompanied by the City Councilor of Murcia, Luis Gestoso (left), and the Minister of Development of Murcia, José Manuel Pancorbo (second from the right) accepts, among others the rally this Thursday in Princesa de Murcia street, where the regional headquarters of the PSOE is located. Marcial Guillén (EFE)
Demonstrators displayed banners in front of a police barricade on Ferraz Street in Madrid. Samuel Sanchez
Concentration in front of the headquarters of the European Commission in Spain, on Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid. Samuel Sanchez
Nobody would say that those who gather there and drink have come to demonstrate. Because they haven’t come that far yet. While thousands chanted all night in front of the Socialist Party headquarters against Pedro Sánchez, against “Muslim Spain” or against the “manipulative Spanish press” or chanted Face to the Sun, they waited in the background. They asked for a double staff and seven others. Five cans of cold beer in green plastic bag. They were heating up at the same rate as the road just 200 meters away.
However, its level of organization is a far cry from the urban guerrilla tactics of coordinated violent groups seen in Catalonia following the conviction of the Procés in October 2019 or the imprisonment of rapper Pablo Hasél in 2021, when professionalized vandalism appeared to take over the streets of the main Catalan capitals. However, some elements such as flares and fireworks were used in the Ferraz riots, which are also more typical of ultras on football pitches.
About three kilometers from Ferraz, two of the main promoters and agitators of the protests, the YouTuber Alvise Pérez and the boss of the Desokupa company, Daniel Esteve, who have led the anti-squatter movement in recent years, waved the flag of xenophobia and As they against Protesting Sanchism in the streets, they announced to their followers (640,000 and 336,000 on Instagram respectively) that they were going “to dinner.” That they gave up the first line. As tensions rose in Ferraz, they wanted to make it clear that they were not encouraging violence. After all, Esteve and dozens of other anti-squatter companies typically notify riot police and the National Police when an eviction turns violent and threats skyrocket, this newspaper has confirmed. Confronting officers on the street is not good for your business.
“It was like a rite of passage. Like yesterday, a kind of cohesion is emerging. Because if something happens to you and something happens to me, then that’s a bond, man,” commented two of the participants in the riots already on the subway at home. But given the clashes of the last few days and with a demonstration against the amnesty promoted by the People’s Party, which has been called this Sunday, November 12, by many – politicians and non-politicians – who have justified and attended the rallies of these days In Ferraz, they wanted to distance themselves and distance themselves from the violent. “If you don’t have the guts to show your face, get out of here,” a boy was told by some people gathered this Wednesday. But at the end of the protest it was once again only the young people in black jackets and hoods who, encouraged by the police operation, chanted: “Here they are, the youth of Spain!”
Demonstrators throw flares during the protests this Thursday near the PSOE headquarters in Madrid.NACHO DOCE (Portal)
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