On 18 July news about a rising of the Army of Africa in the Spanish protectorate in Morocco reached Barcelona, but the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Lluís Companys, refused to give weapons to the workers and ordered anarchists carrying weapons to be detained. Nevertheless, the CNT, led by Buenaventura Durruti and Francisco Ascaso, assaulted some army depots and the prison ship Uruguay, and started to make home-made grenades and improvised armoured cars. Furthermore, Assault Guards handed out rifles to the CNT.
