Catalunia
Spain’s interior minister said he would send national police to Catalonia if local authorities did not do more to stop protests like the one that shut down major highways over the weekend.
Fernando Grande-Marlaska accused the local Catalan police of doing nothing to prevent pro- independence protesters blocking the AP-7 toll road for more than 15 hours on Saturday.
The involvement of national police would be a contentious issue in the region which has its own administration and where polls suggest almost half the population wants to split from Spain.
It would also stir memories of Madrid’s decision to send in a large contingent of national police in September last year after the Catalan government called an illegal independence referendum.
“Serious disruptions of public order and traffic security, such as those seen in the last few days, need to be dealt with by the regional police,” the minister wrote to his regional counterpart in an open letter late yesterday.
“If this does not happen … the government will order an intervention by the state police,” he added.
There was no immediate reaction from the Catalan authorities.
Migration
on a bench at a Barcelona police station, five teenagers wait patiently to find out where they will sleep that night: a shelter for young migrants, or on that bench.
The boys from Morocco and Sub-Saharan Africa had all entered southern Spain as unaccompanied minors, crossing from Morocco on what this year has become the biggest migrant route into Europe. Like thousands of other teenagers, mostly Moroccans, they made their way to Barcelona, a city known to many of them for its legendary soccer club.
Authorities are scrambling to provide housing for thousands of new arrivals. While 120 new shelters have been set up, some Moroccan boys end up sleeping in the streets.
Crime Gangs
SPANISH Media have attributed the escalation of violence this year on the Costa del Sol to the rivalry between new International crime gangs that have expanded their enterprises to the south of Spain.
The number of recorded cases of gang violence has risen this year and has been widely reported.
Incidents involving arson, explosive devices, torture and murder as well as the confiscation of weapons have been tackled by the Police.
The victims and alleged instigators of the crimes have been Dutch, British, Swedish, French, Croatian and Spanish.
In a move to bring an end to the escalating violence, Spanish Police have installed billboards on the Costa del Sol featuring photo’s of the most wanted alleged criminals.
Police are said to be aware of over 100 criminal organisations in the area .
National Police unit UDYCO have called for tougher policing and the introduction of harsher sentences to control the escalating violence levels.
Rail Strike
TRAIN union CC.OO. has announced two additional strikes for December 21 and January 7.
There was an existing train strike planned for this Friday 14, which at present is still set to go ahead.
Renfe and Adif announced in a press release this morning the main reason for the industrial action is not having enough staff to cover train routes during the busy Christmas season.
The union also announced plans to restructure the work force of both companies to address the imbalance of genders, currently there are only 13 per cent of women represented in each company.
The last train strike took place on October 31 and saw one third of all Renfe services cancelled.
it is not known at this time what level of disruption will occur during the latest strike action.