Five years after the attacks of 17-A, it cannot be ruled out that similar events could happen again in Catalonia, since no one was then able to detect the rapid radicalization of the members of the Ripoll cell around the imam Abdelbaki es Satty . To try to avoid this, the Mossos d'Esquadra promote new programs for the prevention and detection of violent radicalization processes and expand the network of community and institutional collaboration.
"Today if a person observes that another is radicalized and is a loved one - alluding to the Ripoll cell - the only thing they can do is report it to the Mossos, no mechanism has been created that allows advising people who have this casuistry. The prevention of radicalization is not on the public agenda," journalist Anna Teixidor denounced this Tuesday in La Vanguardia.
With the aim of addressing these violent processes, Mossos d'Esquadra has launched work over the last year to give new impetus to the new programs for the prevention and detection of violent extremism by expanding the community network and involving other associative sectors , professionals and institutions committed to working for coexistence and promoting social cohesion. The new work procedures address prevention over detection, and detection over intervention, which, in cases of police action, is the last resort and is reserved for situations in which there are indications of commission of criminal offences.
In this sense, the Catalan police force promotes a transversal work system in areas such as the protection of children and youth, with Rural Agents, with religious and associative communities and with social services. Until now, intense work has been done with the educational community, with the local police and with professionals in the field of criminal execution.
In addition, a communication campaign is launched to inform the public about these processes, explain the work of the police and help identify and manage possible situations in this area.
During the past year and until June 30 of this year, the Mossos d'Esquadra have promoted a total of 369 training days aimed mainly at young men and squad members, local police, prison workers and other criminal and professional measures of the educational community. As a result of all the work carried out in this framework during the past year, a total of 191 alerts related to possible cases of violent radicalization were generated.
By areas, 85% of the cases detected are linked to the jihadist sphere and 12.5% to the extreme right. Jihadism and the extreme right are considered the two greatest current threats that exist in Catalonia in the field of violent extremists. Thanks to the interdisciplinary interventions applied in these detected cases, only 8% remain under PG-ME follow-up, the rest remaining deactivated and the situation has been redirected.
