Dramatic clashes have broken out between police and protestors near a famous Barcelona park after it was closed for a private fashion event today.
Chaotic scenes showed friction between baton-wielding officers and residents rallying against the use of public property for a Louis Vuitton runway earlier today, with stars from around the world arriving to show off next year’s Cruise collection.
Emma Stone, Sophie Turner, Jennifer Connelly and Ana de Armas were among the top names welcomed by the luxury French brand to parade their 2025 range in the Catalan capital this week, while the organisers have drawn fire from locals criticising the ‘privatising’ of public space.
Shocking video showed protestors being beaten back by masked police in riot gear as the raged against Louis Vuitton’s use of the historic Park Güell, with critics voicing opposition towards both the event itself and the disruption it causes in the city for days.
Matters came to a head on Thursday as huge crowds wielding banners encircled officers, who were seen shoving residents and beating one man to the ground after he lashed out with a kick.
Police and demonstrators clash during a protest outside the Park Guell in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday May 23, 2024
Models present creations from the Louis Vuitton Cruise 2025 collection by French designer Nicholas Ghesquiere, in Barcelona
Police and demonstrators clash during a protest outside the Park Güell in Barcelona on May 23
Officers were seen in harrowing footage wildly striking at protestors as they gathered in protest of the event.
In one video, the crowd appears to shuffle forward before one man is beaten back with a baton, crying out in pain.
The group, some appearing with cameras, seem to step away from the officers in an apparent attempt to defuse the situation before the violence erupts again.
One officer appears to push a woman back towards the crowd, who falls back into him.
It is unclear from the clip whether she is pushed by the large mass of people behind her or moves forward of her own volition.
The officer responds quickly by lashing out at the encroaching crowd with his baton, before giving the woman a heavy shove back into the mass.
A man in a grey T-shirt, stood next to the woman, then lunges forward at the officer, who strikes another person with his baton in the melee.
The man in grey dives in with a wild kick but finds himself in the centre of eight officers, all masked and all with batons, who surround him and drag him away from the crowds.
Officers strike officers in the confusion, and projectiles are thrown in their direction as tensions boil over.
The man in grey is then seen on the floor with his arms behind his back as some officers circle while others try to manage the crowd.
In more peaceful scenes, protestors were seen staging a parodic catwalk in the Travessera de Dalt road through the district of Gràcia to the applause of bystanders.
A journalist for Catalan channel Rac 1 claimed a person had been detained by officials and taken to a police station.
‘Before, there had been moments of tension and there have been police charges,’ Mar Poyato wrote on Twitter/X this evening.
One bearded man strutted across the street and back in a red dress off both shoulders, with an improvised lace net over his face.
Another protestor in black coat with ‘ACAB’ (All Cops Are B******s) emblazoned across the back joined the march, trailled by a black cape.
And a third person in a vibrant green jacket and black sunglasses also confidently walked past in apparent ridicule of Louis Vuitton’s statement party.
The event itself is one of many organised by the luxury fashion brand for the 37th America’s Cup, held in the creative hub of Barcelona this year and sponsored by the brand.
Among those attending was LVMH owner and CEO Bernard Arnault, who this year retained his spot as the richest man in the world, worth a staggering $206bn according to Forbes.
On Wednesday, dozens turned out to complain about the event, judging it ‘privatising public space’, as reported by Catalan News.
Park Güell was completed in 1914, some 14 years after it was first drawn up under instruction of Catalan entrepreneuer Eusebi Güell.
A police officer strikes at members of the crowd as they appear to push back amid clashes
British actor Sophie Turner poses for photographs upon arrival to the presentation of Louis Vuitton’s Cruise 2025 collection today
Güell aimed to ‘recreate the British residential parks’, even naming the site in English, with views over the flat plain of Barcelona and the adjacent Mediterranean.
Early on, private plots were sold off in small quantities, but a lack of buyers eventually saw works abandoned in 1914.
The park was thus reserved for large public events as a private garden of sorts for Güell, before being sold to the City Council by his heirs after his death in 1918.
Since 1926, the park has been designated a municipal park and now hosts the Gaudí House Museum – both recognised as important artefacts of local culture in their own right.
In 1984, the park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
