Neighbors and merchants in Raval and Sant Antoni report that for some time now, attacks on stores in these neighborhoods have been increasing. Yes, lately this type of crime is on the rise in a good part of the city, in a lot of neighborhoods. But the rudimentary technique used in these adjoining sides of Ciutat Vella and Eixample leads many to conclude that they are being victims of the same criminals, of people who keep an eye on stores whose windows are not protected by bars in order to burst them at once. throw a stone or two and make off in a few minutes with whatever they can take and leave. They are not at all blows prepared to the millimeter. Some merchant caught the thieves red-handed.
Acció Raval recognizes that for some time now the police presence on the streets of the neighborhood has been much greater, but questions the priorities established by the administrations. “Sometimes it seems that politicians are more concerned with ensuring the safety of tourists than with protecting the people of the neighborhood.” And the entity lists some of the latest victims in the Raval of the stone gang in the window: a bazaar, a bakery, a stationery store, a herbalist, a hairdresser, an appliance store, a very cheap clothing store… “The situation has been getting complicated especially since November.”
The unrest spreads in the border area of ??Sant Antoni. “They break the shop windows with stones or anything they can find, even manhole covers,” say the merchants in this area. More than half a year ago, some very professional people came to rob the Media Markt, but those who have been coming lately are very rudimentary. The truth is that in many cases repairing the damage is turning out to be more expensive than the stolen goods themselves. Here in the area in less than three months we have three businesses robbed, but if we look at the rest of the neighborhood we find another ten.”
The truth is that the general trends in this regard in Barcelona seem worrying. Just three weeks ago, in the last local security meeting, the Government reported that last year there were 2,636 violent robberies in commercial establishments in Barcelona, ??while the previous year 1,878 were recorded. We are talking about an increase of more than forty percent. And precisely yesterday the Junts councilors Jordi Martí Galbis and Joan Rodríguez warned of the increase in citizen insecurity in Sant Antoni.
The two councilors assure that during the last few months and mainly in the area around the neighborhood’s municipal market, there has been a seventeen percent increase in criminal acts. And they add that Mayor Jaume Collboni’s executive has to set up a specific working group with police representatives, merchants and neighbors. “Collboni’s Barcelona is becoming too similar to Colau’s,” Martí Galbis and Rodríguez emphasize.
“We are not just talking about shoplifting,” they add in the Som Sant Antoni merchants association. These people are also throwing stones at the doors of residential buildings. We also talk about vandalism. And lately on Mistral Avenue we have people who deal drugs and intimidate neighbors who notice. In recent months we have improved in terms of cleanliness, but insecurity is worsening in a worrying way. Let’s hope that the administrations act before the matter gets out of hand.”
