The central fallas of València will not open their casals this weekend or hold events, out of caution after calls on social media urged people to loot shops in the city centre during Halloween. The decision mainly affects the commissions closest to the Bullring, Plaza del Ayuntamiento and Guillem de Castro, and comes on top of the official mourning for the Toledo rail crash, which has already kept the falla calendar frozen until Sunday.

One of the events that draws the most fallers, the Picaeta Fest, has been called off. Organised each time by a different commission of the Federación de Fallas Centro, with 15 gatherings a year, this edition had been scheduled at falla Bailén-Xàtiva (La Ferroviaria), whose casal stands on Pelayo street, a step from Estación del Norte. Its president, Aurora Ruiz, says they cancelled the event "for safety reasons as early as last Wednesday", because they are very close to the area where unrest could break out and "to protect the fallers, both adults and children". The Picaeta Fest moves to Sunday 20 December.

The El Pilar-Sant Francesc grouping has cancelled the children's trick-or-treat parade that was to take the faller kids of its thirteen commissions around casals and nearby streets. Its president, José Felipe Villanueva, is blunt: "Once possible vandalism in the city centre had been announced, it was better to call it off". The route was to pass through En Sendra, Mercado Central, Bolsería and Guillem de Castro.

The tribute to Martina Songel, a member of the 2026 Fallera Mayor Infantil's court of honour, has also been postponed. It was due this Saturday at Convento Jerusalén-Matemático Marzal, an event usually joined by the other court members and Marta Mercader. In the heart of the city, falla Ribera-Convento Santa Clara, better known as the Telefónica falla, is shutting its premises completely: "Hopefully nothing happens, but we close as a precaution", says its president Marcos Chico, adding that they also want to show their condolences for the Toledo tragedy.

Saturday 31 will be, in the words of mayor María José Catalá, a day of "real threat" in the city centre, with a reinforced police operation and a doubled Local Police deployment. The fallas, for now, choose prudence: casals closed, events rescheduled and the fiesta keeping silence.

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