Just two hours before the final began, members of the demonstration called to claim the Basque football team attacked a young man with unusual violence who was with three other women in a bar in the Bilbao neighborhood of Indautxu. The attackers carried, according to sources close to the victim, extendable batons and motorcyclist knuckle dusters with metal protections. The radicals charged against him because he was wearing a Spanish national football team jersey. The Bilbao assault is part of the multiple attacks suffered by fans in Euskadi and Navarra before, during, and after the final. The Ertzaintza has reported 4 arrests and is investigating the participation of another 7 individuals in attacks in Bilbao, Vitoria, and Berriz (Biscay).
The marches called by groups of radical youth to claim the ‘Euskal Selekzioa’ in the hours before the final between Spain and Argentina facilitated the attacks in Bilbao and Vitoria. The possible participation in these gatherings of the young people who in Berriozar (Navarra) attacked a group of soldiers enjoying the final in a bar in this Pamplona neighborhood is also being investigated.
The Bilbao assault occurred around 7:00 p.m. yesterday in a hospitality venue near Indautxu square and also close to the National Police station in Bilbao. Without much exchange of words, several of the demonstrators charged at the young man dressed in ‘La Roja’, threw him to the ground, and hit him with extendable batons and motorcyclist gloves. Also in Berriozar, according to initial investigations, the attackers used small metal batons that are concealed under clothing. In all cases, the attackers hid with hoods and black scarves.
In Vitoria, the first attack investigated by the Basque Police was against two young Spanish fans at 7:45 p.m., minutes after about three hundred separatists protested against Spain and the national team and heckled any citizen wearing a national team jersey or a national flag. About thirty individuals stationed at the entrance of Cuchillería street confronted the Spanish fans to attack them. Mobile Brigade officers intervened quickly, proceeding to identify three of them.
After Spain’s victory in the final, police officers arrested three hooded young men, aged 25, 19, and 18, after they confronted people wearing the Spanish national team jersey. Two have been arrested for hate crimes, and the third also for assaulting law enforcement officers.
The incident occurred after one a.m. on Monday in the Judimendi neighborhood of Vitoria. A call to the Ertzaintza warned that radicals dressed in black and with balaclavas were attacking another group. One of the assaulted reportedly suffered several kicks and had his Spain jersey torn while trying to remove it.
The Ertzaintza is also investigating possible crimes committed by the thirty radicals who participated in the attempt to boycott the broadcast of the final in Doña Casilda park organized by the Basque PP. The PP’s general secretary and spokesperson in Bilbao Esther Martínez confronted the attackers and, together with private security and the arrival of the Ertzaintza, prevented the attackers from destroying the giant screen. The president of the Basque PP, Javier de Andrés, has questioned the police operation designed by the Ertzaintza commanders and, at the same time, thanked the officers who later came to subdue the attackers.
The Department of Security has specified that it identified 21 people in the Biscay capital during the operations related to the World Cup final. One person is being investigated for threats with a bladed weapon and four others for participating in incidents against the giant screen set up by the party of Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
Additionally, a 40-year-old man was identified in Berriz and is being investigated for ramming his vehicle into the car of two people celebrating the Spanish national team’s victory after the match. Around 1:30 a.m., the individual tore a flag from the victims’ car, two young men, and then grabbed one of them forcefully, causing a wrist injury. The victims, aged 23 and 21, have filed complaints about the events.
Also in San Sebastián, the celebration of Spain’s victory was met with violence by abertzale groups. A man has been arrested for assaulting officers and six others investigated for threats and insults to Spanish national team fans. Around one a.m., Ertzaintza officers intervened in the “Portaletas” area, in the Old Town of the Gipuzkoa capital, against a group of people intimidating and coercing fans wearing the ‘La Roja’ jersey.
Due to the risk to the victims’ safety, who at times were surrounded and threatened, Ertzaintza resources intervened and proceeded to identify 7 people involved, all Spanish nationals.
A 28-year-old man has been arrested for assaulting law enforcement officers, and six others, four men and two women, have been investigated for an alleged crime of coercion. They are people between 25 and 33 years old, plus a minor, aged 16.
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