Since the wee early hours of Thursday morning, Mountain time zone, my partner and I spent just over 24 hours in transit to reach Barcelona (when you are flying free on points, you don't always get the choice direct routes).
We have been having a great time so far. This afternoon here, on an open top double decker tour bus, we spotted an unusually high police presence. At one point, the street our bus was heading up reached a blockade. As other vehicles in front of us did, our driver executed a 3-point 180 degree change of course, to find an alternate route.
We surmised that there were protests going on, but had no idea why.
After returning safely to our hotel, having a short rest, and heading out on foot for dinner, the protest situation got slightly closer to home, so to speak. About a block away from our temporary home base, after dinner, we could hear sirens and chanting. Black police vans, quite a few in number, sped past us the wrong way up a one-way street, lights flashing and sirens wailing.
At that moment, we were in the middle pedestrian boulevard of a popular tourist street known as La Rambla. We could see that a protest mob was heading our way, in big numbers, chanting and yelling. Partner grabbed my hand and we worked our way to one edge as far as we could. We squeezed by the protestors, streaming in the opposite direction. We then rounded the corner and up the 3 or 4 steps to our hotel, just off the Main Street. A group of protestors was still passing by on that side street. The hotel had staff standing in unison at the entrance, to make sure the mob didn't come in (though little chance they would have had against the mob! a few against a great many). Safely inside, we asked staff what was going on. They didn't seem to know details, other than something to do with an eviction against squatters.
Back in our room, I googled to discover that this situation has been building up for 17 years, and came to a head on Wednesday night. "Leftist" squatters had occupied an unused government building years ago, and after years of frustration, the government finally moved to forcibly evict them and demolish the building. This is now the fourth night of what has been described as rioting.
What we saw was definitely in the realm of protest, but not to the point of rioting. Apparently the violence, such as it is, has been happening in poorer districts of the city, not the tourist areas where we are now.
I have some pictures, but unable to upload them for the moment.
For those who want to read more, google "Barcelona news protest". There are several articles to choose from.
In the meantime, when travelling, try not to physically get involved in the middle of someone else's protest, especially when you have no idea what they are protesting.
We are safe, and now watching the still occasionally boisterous crowds from above street level.