With what it cost Calella City Council to eradicate the stigma of drunken tourism that ten years ago made a dent in the prestige of the holiday destination, so sensitive to the impacts of international news, now the new city council has to deal with ensuring that reservations tourist attractions do not fall precipitously due to the criminal action of a group of 11 active teenagers. Hoteliers and merchants have warned, with small mouths, but the one who has taken the step and confronted the competent administration has been Marc Buch, the new 37-year-old mayor.
Buch has recognized the concern conveyed by the hotel and commercial sector about the consequences that the increase in criminal acts may have on the prestige of the tourist destination. For this reason, he has asked for help not only from the Department of the Interior, of whom he praises the work of the Mossos but criticizes the lack of commitment of Minister Elena, but he has also turned to the National Police and the Prosecutor's Office. "I will touch all the keys that are necessary."
The mayor demands that a group of repeat offenders be uprooted from the city, migrant foreigners ex-protected by the Generalitat who, upon turning 18, settled in the coastal town in occupied houses and have made crime their way of life. They know the area well because some of them stayed at the expense of the Generalitat in one of the establishments that welcomed unaccompanied foreign minors (mena). Knowledge of the territory has made it easier for them to access empty homes that they have occupied illegally.
These are eleven young people who together make up more than 260 arrests. As an example, the mayor explains that during the last six months alone, this gang has committed 50 crimes. In such a situation, he demands that the law be applied and that the aggravating circumstance for multiple recidivism be activated when they are detained. To do this, he will not hesitate to ask for help from his political group, Junts, in the Congress of Deputies and from his spokesperson, also from Maresme, Míriam Nogueras.
The situation causes a great feeling of insecurity in the population, especially in the commercial and hotel sector and leads to the head of the fifty Local Police agents who keep them constantly under surveillance, but who are overwhelmed by the magnitude of an activity. criminal offense that goes beyond their powers.
"We are afraid to raise the blinds every morning," admits a downtown merchant who, like the others, wants to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. "A pool of blood appears, like an injured person, at night Calella has turned" they say from the commercial sector. The hoteliers agree, who react by putting pressure on the mayor when they see that reservations for the next season are in danger. "In summer, tourists are his favorite dishes and the beach is his dessert," explains with a gastronomic simile a restaurant professional whose clients complain about insecurity.
The last incident involving these young people took place on Saturday, December 2, when they set fire to a house after a fight. Three of the teenagers, who ended up being arrested, confronted the police with baseball bats and machete-type weapons to avoid their arrest. Four neighbors and two police officers were injured in the incident.
The mayor, like the rest of the towns in Alt Maresme, demands a greater Mossos presence and considers the latest distribution of troops, four agents, an insult. The problem, they say, is that the Catalan police do not reach everything and, according to police sources, “there are nights when only one patrol is available to cover the 12 municipalities of Alt Maresme. Both Buch and the majority of towns in the north of the region, which have a total of 150,000 inhabitants, a figure that triples in summer, demand "to be taken into account." Others regret that "Catalonia does not exist from Mataró" which also doubts the exercise of the capital status of the eighth city of Catalonia.
Mayor Buch openly criticizes the absence of the Minister of the Interior, Joan Ignasi Elena, in the last Security Board to which he had committed his presence and regrets that they are treated “like second-class citizens.” Some public statements that earned him a confrontation with the minister's chief of staff, who reproached him for his words and justified that Elena was in the Barcelona unemployment operation, to which the mayor responded that "there is always something more important than Calella for the minister." "remembering that he also attended a gala dinner. Neither did any senior department officials, nor Mossos commanders, attend the security board, beyond the territorial officials.
Apart from the impact on the tourist destination, the wave of crime also affects the local economy. The mayor confirms that during the last six months, since criminal activity has been in full swing, the Local Police have been forced to carry out 2,100 overtime hours, which total more than 60,000 euros. Buch has estimated between 1.5 and two million euros the expense for the city council of having to assume police tasks that are typical of the Mossos d'Esquadra and that the local security forces are forced to assume. The mayors insist on remembering that the Catalan police are the ones with powers in citizen security and public order.
Soon, Marc Buch will meet with the Director General of the Police, Pere Ferrer, to whom he will convey the concern of the tourism sector, fearful that criminal acts will continue to negatively affect hotel reservations for the next season. Calella, with fifty hotels, lives off tourist activity and warns that crises have a direct impact on the tour operator market. "If Calella has a reputation as an unsafe city, tourists will look for a quieter destination," say the hotels.
