• La Mercè Serious riots that end with a stabbed death and looted shops

  • Data X-ray of crime in Barcelona this summer

The fatal stabbing occurred in Barcelona on the second night of the Mercè festivities forcefully reopens the debate on insecurity in the Catalan capital.

A latent sensation in the residents of

Barcelona,

​​where according to official data from the City Council, one in four says they have suffered at least one robbery in 2021.

The debate is fueled by the death of a 25-year-old man and the numerous episodes of vandalism that took place early Sunday morning in and around

Plaza España

: destruction of shops, burning of motorcycles, street furniture...

A death that culminates a tragic week in

Catalonia

, where seven people have died in just seven days stabbed or by firearm.

The debate on insecurity in Barcelona has been an open folder for several years.

In the last municipal barometer, 22% of the city's inhabitants placed it as their main concern, which represented one percentage point more than that provided by the previous survey.

The recent

Victimization Survey of Barcelona

also abounded in this phenomenon , which indicates that one in four residents says they have been the object of at least one robbery during the year 2021.

According to the latest official data from the

Ministry of the Interior

, from January to June of this year, criminal offenses in Barcelona increased by 40.3% compared to 2021. In this period, thefts grew by 68.9% and robberies with violence and intimidation, 41.3%.

There was also a considerable increase in serious and less serious crimes of injury and riot, which went from 266 to 450 (+69.2%).

It should be noted, however, that the data for 2020 and 2021 are conditioned by the reduction in mobility due to the pandemic and it was not until this year that Barcelona has recovered tourism rates comparable to the stage prior to

Covid

.

During the months of July and August, the

Mossos

and the

Guardia Urbana

deployed a specific police coordination plan with a greater presence of agents and preventive measures.

In this period, theft and robbery have continued to be the most common criminal typology, but not the one that has grown the most.

In fact, these two crimes decreased compared to 2019, a year taken as a reference for having mobility on the streets similar to this 2022.

In its balance, the regional police highlights the increase in arrests linked to robberies with violence in the street (17.3%), which led to the imprisonment of 8.5% of those arrested, since the majority were repeat offenders .

After the incidents of the second night of La Mercè, the spokesman for the

CSIF

union in the Urban Guard,

Eugenio Zambrano

, charged against the "political lukewarmness" of the municipal government: "They do not want to see an Urban Guard restoring security or dealing with these public disorders.

In addition, he blamed the "loss of police authority" on "the phobia against the Bodies" of the local Executive itself.

In the early hours of Sunday, in addition to the fatal attack, another person was injured by a knife on

Bogatell

beach , where an important part of the Mercè concerts are also concentrated, although few data emerged as no complaint had been filed.

The

Association of Merchants of Creu Coberta

, one of the areas most affected by the vandalism of the second festive night, recalled that "some of the affected stores were already the object of theft and damage" a year ago.

In a statement, the union criticized that it had already warned of the need to "have a greater police presence" and asked the authorities to open "a debate that will end the problem of lack of security in Barcelona."

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

  • Barcelona

  • Mossos d'Esquadra

  • Coronavirus

  • Ministry of Interior

  • covid 19