Bilbao counts the cost of vehicle fires as 17 arrests leave responsibility unresolved

For the people whose cars burned in Bilbao, the cost of Monday’s violence sits outside the city’s first damage estimate. Municipal workers began removing wrecked vehicles and waste containers early on October 27, while residents and traders were left with damaged property and disrupted streets. City Hall estimates public-property losses at about €55,000; the losses borne by the owners of five burned-out cars are additional. ⁹

The fires and attacks on police followed demonstrations against a planned appearance by far-right activist Vito Quiles near the University of Deusto on October 26, 2026. His appearance never happened. The latest reported balance is 17 arrests, including ten minors, with another person being investigated separately. The seven arrested adults have been released pending court summonses, and investigators are still identifying participants. ⁴

A Bilbao Municipal Police motorcycle was also set alight. Earlier descriptions of vehicle damage were broader: El Constitucional reported fire reaching at least six cars, while EITB described roughly half a dozen vehicles burning. Those accounts and the municipal count of five burned-out cars do not necessarily measure the same damage, but they have not been fully reconciled. Five is not an established total for every vehicle damaged. ^{13 6 3 9}

There is still no substantiated overall injury count, complete inventory of damage to businesses or combined valuation of public and private losses. Missing injury information must not be mistaken for confirmation that nobody was hurt.

The final reported arrest breakdown is 14 men and three women. Ten are minors; the seven adults are aged 18 to 25 and include one woman. A further 22-year-old man is under investigation separately from the arrested group. Cadena SER, reporting the Security Department’s figures, says the arrests concerned suspected public-order offences. Each person’s involvement remains to be established through the investigation and judicial process. ⁴

None of those arrested had previously been arrested by the Ertzaintza, the Basque regional police, according to Cadena SER. That is a narrower statement than saying they had no criminal record anywhere. Police completed their report before releasing the adults to await judicial summonses. The ten minors were due before juvenile prosecutors on October 27, but the outcome of those referrals has not been established. Nor is there a confirmed subsequent charging decision or final judicial disposition. ^{4 3}

The changing arrest figures reflect successive accounts, not separate groups to be added together. Channel 4 News reported at least nine arrests on October 27; CNN’s later report that day gave 17, including ten minors. The earlier minimum was superseded, not contradicted by a competing final total. ^{2 1}

An intervening balance had put arrests at 19 and additional people under investigation at three, with some reports counting seven minors. EITB’s explicitly final October 27 account reduced the figures to 17 arrests and one additional person investigated, and put the number of minors at ten. The evidence does not explain every administrative revision. ^{12 3}

Thousands of students marched through central Bilbao at midday, and several thousand people gathered near the Deusto campus later, following mobilizations by youth, political and anti-fascist organizations. The preceding march was largely peaceful. Being in that crowd is not evidence of taking part in the later fires or attacks. ^{3 2}

Quiles had announced a gathering in front of the campus for 7 p.m.—not an established university-hosted event. The university separately suspended afternoon academic activity and closed the campus as a precaution. Basque universities minister Juan Ignacio Pérez Iglesias disagreed with that decision, but neither his objection nor the closure establishes that the university organized Quiles’s appearance. ^{4 3}

The cancellation involved two distinct communications. According to the Security Department’s October 26 statement, Quiles called the Ertzaintza at 2 p.m. to explore moving the gathering elsewhere. Police told him no alternative location was available. At 4:06 p.m., he withdrew in writing. ¹³

His public social-media announcement, citing security concerns, came about half an hour before the scheduled 7 p.m. start, EITB reported. Police therefore had written notice more than two hours before the public announcement. These are different stages of the same cancellation, not evidence that the appearance went ahead. ^{3 13}

Around the scheduled start time, after the gathering dispersed, several hundred people moved toward nearby Lehendakari Aguirre Avenue. Hooded participants dragged waste containers into the road and burned them as barricades. The municipal police motorcycle was set alight, and stones were thrown at officers and the Deusto police station. The official account describes a group heading toward the station with stones and burning the motorcycle along the way. ^{3 13}

Flares or fireworks were also thrown, and a construction container burned on nearby Francesc Macià Street. The disturbances spread toward Plaza de Euskadi, near Deusto Bridge, and into the city centre, where more vehicles and containers burned. Commercial premises and street furniture were damaged. ³

EHKS, the Basque socialist organization that includes GKS, said on October 27 that its participation ended with the earlier mobilizations. It described two afternoon demonstrations that ended without incidents in Deusto and maintained that its objectives had been fulfilled once Quiles did not come. That is the organization’s account of its role, not a judicial finding about everyone who attended. Its proposed explanations for the wider unrest—including impoverishment, war, fascism and social networks—are not demonstrated causes of these attacks. ¹⁹

The Security Department inferred premeditation because the disturbances continued despite the cancellation. Security minister Bingen Zupiria suggested that organized Basque groups, outside references or imitation of violent movements elsewhere in Europe might have influenced those involved. These remain official hypotheses, not established identification of whoever directed the violence. Quiles’s allegation that former ETA members were among protest leaders came without evidence; investigators have not demonstrated an ETA connection. ^{13 9 3 1}

A separate question concerns police preparation. The ErNE and Esan unions allege that commanders dismantled the preventive deployment too hastily after cancellation. Their central argument is straightforward: cancelling the appearance did not remove the risk from crowds already gathered. ErNE demanded explanations and accountability from police leadership. ^{9 3}

Those allegations do not by themselves establish an operational failure. A complete deployment chronology has not been supplied to resolve them. Euspel general secretary Julio González, meanwhile, condemned the attempt to reach the Deusto station as an escalation aimed at direct confrontation with officers. ³

Political condemnation was broad, but explanations diverged. Mayor Juan María Aburto characterized the perpetrators as real fascists rather than anti-fascist fighters. The PP demanded Zupiria’s resignation and blamed failures to anticipate the violence. Socialist and PNV figures said provocation could not justify more violence, while Sumar and ELA argued that the right and reactionary forces would benefit politically. These are political judgments, not findings about the detainees’ identities or affiliations. ⁹

All municipal groups except EH Bildu signed a joint declaration condemning the disturbances and chants supporting military ETA. EH Bildu separately expressed its absolute rejection of violent behaviour and solidarity with those affected. Its absence from the joint declaration is therefore not evidence of approval of the violence. ⁹

The work now is more exacting than assigning labels: establish who burned property and attacked police, distinguish them from peaceful demonstrators, explain the deployment decisions and account for the damage. The juvenile outcomes, any adult summonses or charges, a reliable injury assessment and the remaining private losses are still unresolved. The cancelled appearance is settled history; responsibility for what followed is not.