The incident occurred at 08:30 AM on Sunday in Juan de Garay street in the Vizcayan capital. Two males attempted to steal belongings from a tourist's bag. However, they were spotted by two pedestrians, a man and a woman, who thwarted the robbery by alerting the victim.
At that moment, the alleged thieves violently turned against the citizens who had foiled their plans. One of the detainees grabbed an iron bar and tried to assault the man for preventing the robbery. The man defended himself and managed to disarm the assailant. Immediately after, the alleged thieves began throwing stones at both the man and the woman.
The two individuals continued throwing stones at the aforementioned citizens and the responding officers.
The Ertzaintza received an alert about the fight, and several patrols arrived at the scene, near the Zabalburu Commuter train station. Upon their arrival, the victims quickly approached the officers to give their account of the events. The assailants had taken refuge on the station platform, and when the police went down to arrest them, they jumped onto the tracks to gather more stones, which they continued to throw at the officers.
Ertzaina officers managed to arrest the older of the two, a 30-year-old man, while his accomplice escaped. Minutes later, another Ertzaintza patrol arrested the second thief and assailant, who was located near the Bailén street station. Both men were taken to Ertzaintza facilities in Bilbao and subsequently placed at the disposal of the judicial authorities.
