• Catalonia Political siege to Ada Colau due to the lack of control of the city after the vandalism by the bottles

The vandalism in the streets of Barcelona during the Merce festivities is on the way to becoming an institutional conflict. After the serious altercations in the early hours of Saturday, with clashes with the police, broken glass, damage to furniture and patrol cars, robberies, looting of shops and vehicles and burning trees, the mayor of the city Ada Colau urged the Department of the Interior to lead the security device that would prevent these images from being repeated the following night, in front of another macro-bottle convened in Montjuïc, despite the fact that due to police pressure they moved to the beaches. Colau assured that these incidents were no longer a problem of non-compliance with the ordinances but that they went beyond that of public order, so it was the responsibility of the Mossos.

However, from the Generalitat it is considered that these statements were a way of exonerating the mayor in the face of a situation that has aggravated the problem of insecurity that the city suffers as well as its external image.

For this reason, Catalan President Pere Aragonès asked Colau to "assume his responsibilities" since the La Mercè devices were designed by the Guàrdia Urbana.

He assured that the Generalitat has always been at the disposal of the City Council, with Mossos agents when they have been required and "we have not entered into controversies."

In an interview with La 2 and Ràdio 4 Aragonès expressed his concern about these bottles since he considers behind the episodes of robbery and violence there are small organized groups.

For his part, the Deputy Mayor for Security of Barcelona, ​​Albert Batlle, considers that the macro-bottles this weekend in the city are "a turning point" in the face of extreme violence. In this sense, he considers that from now on the police mechanisms will have to be adjusted since these agglomerations are "a pretext for crime and pillage".

In statements to Catalunya Ràdio, Batlle acknowledged that the macro-bottle in Plaça Espanya with 40,000 people "was a surprise" due to the disturbances that occurred and added that many of the participants are not nightlife customers, but rather people looking for forms of leisure cheaper. For this reason, he considers that the phenomenon must be approached from numerous points of view, such as health, security or education, to prevent the massive consumption of alcohol in the street from becoming chronic.

Regarding these bottles, which have been repeated in several locations throughout the summer, the Minister of the Interior, Joan Ignasi Elena, urged not to identify all the youth with the incidents and assured that the crimes committed during these concentrations are being investigated.

However, he urged a joint reflection on the nightlife model and the phenomenon of drinking in the street.

Business outcry

Precisely, this kind of resignation of the administration with the bottles is the one that most unnerves the business sectors. The Barcelona Restoration Guild accused the Barcelona City Council and the Generalitat of "not having acted with sufficient foresight to avoid or minimize the macro-bottles" that have occurred this weekend in the city. The director of this union, Roger Pallarols, has assured that "it is once again found that continuing to drown restaurants (also discos and dance halls) with restrictions is absurd", in reference to the covid measures and added that "resign and To say that the big bottles were unavoidable seems like a way to avoid responsibility. "

"After the incidents in Plaza Espanya, it is not understood that a strategy was not drawn up to shield all the points likely to host massive concentrations, including beaches," says the union, which lamented the lack of support from the administrations with the two restaurants on the coast of Barcelona that were looted this weekend: "This violence in the streets of Barcelona is becoming chronic. The city has given a painful image."

The Catalan Federation of Associations of Restoration and Musical Activities (Fecasarm) considers that the disturbances in the bottles are the effect of the "lack of action" of the Government. They consider that this problem is consolidated and uncontrolled throughout the Catalan territory and that they come from the decision of the Catalan administration before the summer with the nightlife sector and the restrictions to stop the covid. That is why they reiterated that a secure access protocol must be approved and the modification of the sector plan to include a right of admission subject to vaccination, the previous negative test or having passed the disease in the previous 180 days.

Beyond controversy, Barcelona Tourism condemned the "unacceptable" images of this weekend in the bottles and asked the Generalitat and the Barcelona City Council for "great firmness" to solve the problem. Thus they demanded to promote a table with representation of the administrations, as well as the business sectors of the city to agree on actions. The president of Tourism of Barcelona, ​​Eduardo Torres, said that the "vast majority" of Barcelonans are not "aligned" with vandalism since the city is "open, civic, of coexistence and democratic values."

That is why they urge to agree on the projection that the city wants to transmit after the difficulties of the sector due to the pandemic, a situation that has not yet been normalized.

"The people of Barcelona do not identify with these images and we are not proud of the situation," said Torres, who added that "minorities should not be imposed on majorities."

Thus Barcelona Tourism began a campaign to show its friendlier side on visitors by giving away 6,000 chocolate lollipops on Tourist Day that is celebrated this Monday.

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Know more

  • Catalonia

  • Barcelona

  • Coronavirus

  • Mossos d'Esquadra

  • Pere Aragonès

  • Covid 19

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