More than a dozen people were injured in violent clashes between rioters and police in northern Spain after anti-fascist protests spiralled out of control, in the latest instance of civil unrest sweeping Europe.

Some 5,000 people gathered at a square in A Coruña, a port city in Galicia, on Wednesday morning to protest the visit of politician Santiago Abascal, the president of Spain’s far-right populist Vox party.

Tensions exploded towards the end of Abascal’s speech in the Plaza de María Pita as protesters threw eggs and police repeatedly charged in a bid to disperse the activists, some of whom threw stones and chairs back.

The fracas escalated as masked individuals near the Teatro Colón then began throwing flares and fireworks at police, who responded with a charge, according to La Voz de Galicia.

More containers were set alight across the city as night fell, while groups of protesters in the Obelisk area pulled down fences and set up barricades in front of police. A building site in the Cantonese area was damaged in the chaos.

A journalist required stitches in the emergency room after being struck in the leg by a flying stone earlier in the morning, local media reported.

Artai Gabiás, head of the left-wing youth organisation Galiza Nova, told reporters before the protests that what he called Abascal’s’ ‘hate speeches’ would not be well-received in Galicia.

“His hatred and his racism are a strategy to divide the popular classes. The problems of Galician youth are not the migrants, nor feminism, nor the LGBT collective, it is the failure of the capitalist system,” he said.

Protesters could be heard chanting “Galicia will be the tomb of fascism” in the morning, after the first clashes with riot police, La Voz de Galicia reported.

The city council said after the events that it strongly condemned the “violent acts” that had resulted in injuries and damage to property.

Mayor Inés Rey, of the Spanish socialist workers’ party, said in a statement: “Any claim loses its legitimacy when it resorts to violence, attacks innocent people, and damages private property.”

She estimated that nearly 5,000 people gathered in the square and emphasised the rights of those who attended the demonstration to protest peacefully against fascism.

Vox shared footage of its supporters in the square, claiming in a post on social media that they had received a “great welcome” in the plaza.

“Hundreds of patriots gathered this morning in the heart of A Coruña to hear our president speak,” they said, without addressing the violence.

The latest violence follows weeks of unrest across the continent, spurred by France’s ballooning anti-government protests, which broke out last month over student frustrations with classroom conditions and teacher shortages.

The demonstrations have since gathered national momentum, with many hundreds of thousands of people protesting cost of living concerns and declining public services.

Italy approved a raft of security measures this week including a new offence of violent participation in a demonstration and tougher penalties for rioters after northern cities were similarly swept up in the tumult over the weekend.

While authorities fear further unrest at demonstrations planned for Saturday, the government said it would deploy 500 army troops alongside the police in Milan until the end of 2026.