Youths caught red-handed near historic buildings
Three young people were arrested in the early hours of Wednesday morning for spray-painting graffiti on two listed buildings in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, including the rear facade of the City Council building at Carrer de la Ciutat, number 4. The Guàrdia Urbana apprehended the suspects around 3 a.m. after surveillance cameras installed by the council captured the acts of vandalism. Patrols used footage from the monitoring system to identify and track the suspects’ movements through the narrow streets of Ciutat Vella. They were intercepted shortly afterwards on Carrer Nou de Sant Francesc, where they matched the physical descriptions and clothing seen in the video.
Paint-stained hands and graffiti tools seized
During the intervention, the suspects were particularly nervous and agitated.
According to municipal sources, the three individuals showed signs of distress during the stop. A search revealed multiple marker pens commonly used for graffiti, known locally as 'takers', and a protective glove. One of the youths had fresh black paint stains on his hand, and the graffiti on both buildings was still wet and emitted a strong odour, confirming the acts had occurred minutes earlier.
Buildings protected under city heritage catalog
The vandalised facades are located at Carrer d’Hèrcules, 1, and Carrer de la Ciutat, 4, both included in the Municipal Catalog of Architectural Heritage Protection. The City Hall building, situated at Plaça de Sant Jaume, is a neoclassical structure completed between 1831 and 1847 and officially listed as a Cultural Asset of Local Interest.
Municipal cleaning teams responded swiftly to remove the graffiti. The Ajuntament confirmed that urban maintenance services restored both facades to their original condition within hours of the incident. Two of the three arrested individuals appeared before a judge on Thursday, 10 September 2026. They are being held as alleged perpetrators of criminal damage under Spanish law.
Primary sources: ajuntament.barcelona.cat, Barcelona City Council, Gerència d'Ecologia Urbana, bcnroc.ajuntament.barcelona.cat. Reported by beteve.cat, ikidata.org, El Periódico, hardwoodparoxysm.com, betevé.
