The climate of insecurity that is felt in Barcelona could also be noticed on New Year's Eve. And it is that the Catalan capital concentrated the majority of the arrests produced during the celebration of the End of the Year that were due to an increase in robberies and thefts, as indicated by the Mossos d'Esquadra, which reinforced security in the city with an operation specific. In Catalonia as a whole, the police arrested 46 people on New Year's Eve, which is 142% more than on the same night of 2018.

On these figures, the Minister of Interior of the Generalitat, Miquel Buch, said that most arrests, about 20, were for crimes against heritage and that 17 of them occurred in Barcelona, ​​although they were not at a certain point in the city , such as the New Year's Eve Party held on Reina Maria Cristina Avenue that brought together more than 100,000 people. Mossos commissioner Xavier Monclús said that this year "there has been a greater success of the operations" in Barcelona.

In addition to arrests for robberies and thefts, police said six people have been arrested for crimes of gender-based violence, although no victims have serious injuries, and 16 have given a positive criminal in the 948 breathalyzer readings by agents throughout the night "More effective and new strategies bring more arrests in Barcelona," Buch recalled.

The Mossos conducted 47 controls that have detected 85 positives for exceeding the rate of blood alcohol and 8 for driving under the influence of drugs, figures very similar to those of last year. Firefighters intervened "on time" such as the burning of a fireplace, the poisoning of two people by a boiler in poor condition, the burning of containers, and vehicles on a plot, and a fire in a kitchen, none of them related with acts of pyrotechnics.

In Barcelona there was a fire in an apartment on Calàbria street that caused a preventive evacuation of the block, although all the neighbors soon returned home. "No one has suffered any damage and peace of mind has been recovered," said the deputy mayor of Security of the City of Barcelona, ​​Albert Batlle.

There were also seven traffic accidents with injured but none serious and 11 without injured, "normal in a weekend", according to Batlle who highlighted "the civic behavior of citizens who have participated in all activities" on the night of this Tuesday, and also of public workers such as the Urban Guard, the Bombers and the Metro drivers.

"It has been a lively night, but at the same time also very quiet," he said to add that the show that took place on Reina Maria Cristina Avenue was wonderful: "Barcelona is a fun city, with nights of festivals and major parties, and we hope that all occur with the same normality as this New Year's Eve night. "

The Civil Protection Plan of Catalonia (Procicat) was in the pre-alert phase all night and the emergency telephone number 112 received 3,808 calls, most of them related to security problems and a third to request health care.

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