Editing May Days (section)

=== 3 May ===
A force of 200 police officers, commanded by the Minister of Public Order of the Government of Catalonia, [[Eusebio Rodríguez Salas]], went to the Telefónica central exchange and presented itself at the censorship department located on the second floor, with the intention of taking control of the building.<ref name="Thomas706" /> The anarchists saw that as a provocation since Telefónica was legally occupied by an anarcho-syndicalist committee, according to a decree on collectivization from the Generalitat itself. Rodríguez Salas, on his part, had authorization from the head of internal affairs of the regional government, [[Artemi Aiguader i Miró]].<ref name="Thomas706" /> The anarchist workers opened fire from the second-floor landing of the censorship department. Salas phoned in for help, with a company of the [[Civil Guard (Spain)|National Republican Guard]] arriving along with two [[Control Patrols]] heads, [[Dionisio Eroles]] (of the anarchist police station) and José Asens (of the Control Patrols). Eroles persuaded the CNT workers to cease fire; although they resisted at first, they surrendered their weapons, not before shooting through the windows to empty their ammunition.<ref name="Thomas707">Hugh Thomas, p. 707.</ref>

A crowd gathered in [[Plaça Catalunya]], and at first it was believed that the anarchists had captured the head of the police.<ref name="Thomas707" /> The POUM, the [[Friends of Durruti Group]], the Bolshevik-Leninists and the [[Libertarian Youth]] took positions, and after a few hours all of the political parties had taken out the weapons that they had hidden and began building barricades. From that skirmish, battles began in various parts of the city. Several hundred barricades were built and police units occupied roofs and church towers.<ref name="Thomas707" />

The PSUC and the government controlled the urban sectors on the east side of the [[Ramblas]]. Anarchists dominated the western sectors and all the suburbs. In the [[city centre]], where the headquarters of trade unions and political parties (installed in requisitioned buildings and hotels) were relatively close, shooting began, and cars circulating were machine-gunned.<ref name="Thomas709" >Hugh Thomas, p. 709.</ref> In the Telefónica building a truce was agreed and telephone communications, which were essential for war operations, were not interrupted. The police, installed on the first floor, even sent [[bocadillo]]s to the anarchists, who occupied the upper floors. However grenades thrown from the rooftops blew up several police cars.<ref name="Thomas709" /> Early in the evening the leaders of the POUM proposed to the Barcelona anarchist leaders the formation of an alliance against the communists and the government.<ref>Julian Gorkin, ''Caníbales políticos'', p. 69.</ref> The anarchists refused immediately.<ref name="Peirats, La CNT, p. 274">Peirats, ''La CNT'', p. 274.</ref>