Imogen Calderwood
WHATSAPP messages between police officers have revealed the extent of the violence at Saturday’s riots in Madrid, as investigations get underway.
Violent groups of radicals turned the streets of Madrid into a battleground, throwing rocks at police, and injuring 67 officers.
“I haven’t seen such extreme violence since the riots that followed the anti-war demonstrations,” said one police officer.
Some of the phone messages reveal that police called for back-up ‘a thousand times’, as well as requesting permission to use riot control equipment, but they allegedly got no response.
The investigation is looking into allegations that several operational errors occurred during the course of the riots, as well as errors in planning.
But it has been noted that the most radical and violent members of the crowds, members of a group from Galicia, were not expected to be present.
The presence of several municipal police vans and a fire truck that was used by the rioters to advance against the police, is also being investigated.
All but one of those arrested during the riots have now been released, awaiting trial for accusations of causing damage and injury to police officers.
The one rioter still being held, known only as Miguel M.S., is accused of attempted murder – unprecedented in a case of such large-scale violence – after hitting a police officer over the head with a ‘large’ cobblestone.
