The proliferation of knives in public spaces is a cause for concern and this issue was addressed this morning at Barcelona City Hall in an extraordinary committee of the Presidency, Security and Internal Regulations at the request of Junts. The Deputy Mayor for Security, Albert Batlle, has acknowledged that they are “aware” that there is a problem regarding this issue with different violent episodes in the city and with an “objective increase in injuries” of around 7%, as reported at the last local security meeting in July.
Faced with this reality, Batlle has assured that the Guardia Urbana and the Mossos “work intensively” together to control and reduce this problem. He has also argued that this does not only happen in Barcelona but is a widespread phenomenon in Catalonia, the rest of Spain and in some European countries, such as France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Following Batlle’s intervention, the chief superintendent of the municipal police, Pedro Velázquez, has warned that there is “greater aggressiveness” on the streets and fights have increased by 143% in Barcelona since 2020, going from the 2,100 registered that year to 5,016 in 2023. He added that bladed weapons are used in many criminal acts as it is an “element of opportunity” that is easy to obtain and cheap. In this sense, he specified that in 42% of cases they appear in a context of threat and in 13% in robberies with violence and intimidation.
To stop their proliferation, Velázquez explained that they have intensified the removal of knives, daggers and machetes from the streets of Barcelona, as reported The Vanguard. She explained that they are working together with the Mossos d’Esquadra within the framework of the Daga operation in a plan that will be accelerated, as announced yesterday by the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon. Another of the local police’s lines of work focuses on prevention with planned controls in 82 points of the city “susceptible to risk” of incidents of this type occurring, such as concentrations of young people in the night environment or with those people who have a history of aggression. To do this, they have 84 metal detectors when they carry out these controls that have been brought forward for the Gràcia and Sants festivals and are now intensified with the Mercè.
Opposition groups call for more police resources
The opposition groups have shown themselves to be cooperative in dealing with this problem, although there was no shortage of reproaches to the municipal government, in the sense that action should have been taken earlier or that more resources were needed. In this regard, Jordi Martí, the leader of Junts after the departure of Xavier Trias, has regretted the non-appearance of Mayor Jaume Collboni and although he has recognised that the municipal government “is not the only one responsible” for this phenomenon but also for the Mossos d’Esquadra, he has warned that “we are late, already towing a situation that has created social alarm”. For his part, Marc Serra, the spokesperson for Barcelona en Comú, has called for a rigorous approach to combat this issue and has also defended that “insecurity was not an issue of a certain government or political colour”, in reference to when Ada Colau was mayor.
After offering figures on the rise in incidents involving knives, the Republican Jordi Coronas has insisted on intensifying controls and has proposed legislative changes. For his part, the Popular Party member Juan Millán has demanded more police resources and has also attributed this issue to a question of “a more permissive political culture” with crime. The leader of Vox, Gonzalo de Oro-Pulido, has asked for more means for the agents and above all “to give them confidence”.
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