Robberies involving violence or intimidation have spiked sharply in Barcelona, one of Europe's most attractive summer vacation destinations, Spanish police officials said.
Officials from the regional police force for Catalonia said muggings or street robberies that include the threat of violence have increased 30% since the beginning of the year compared to the same period in 2018 in the popular Mediterranean city that draws nearly 16 million visitors a year.
Those attacks, often targeting tourists, have sometimes hit foreign officials.
This week the Afghan ambassador to Spain was knocked to the ground by a group of thieves who took his watch, injuring his leg. Also this month a FBI agent on vacation had his watch stolen in the center of Barcelona.
In June, a South Korean official died from injuries received when she was knocked to the ground when a thief riding a motorbike tried to snatch her purse.
Police director Andreu Martínez said Wednesday that police were working to halt the crime wave that had "generated a heightened perception of insecurity."
The U.S. Embassy issued an advisory to warn alert tourists to "petty theft schemes that have included acts of violence, such as aggressive thefts of jewelry, watches, and purses."
With its beaches, cuisine and architectural delights, Barcelona, a city with a population of 1.6 million residents, draws 12 million foreign tourists a year and another 4 million from within Spain.
Barcelona has long been considered a safe city, except for a persistent problem of pickpockets who target the large number of foreigners flooding the city each summer.
But what was once a silent hand reaching into the pocket or purse of an unsuspecting victim has now turned aggressive. It appears that thieves have begun to work in groups and use force to extract the property of victims.
Police did not say what they believe the rise in violent crime is due to.
But some locals point to the several thousand underage migrants, mostly from Morocco and Algeria, who have arrived to Spain without their parents in recent years and their fears have been a focus of right-wing parties.
Police statistics indicate that 12% of those minors have committed a crime that employed violence or the threat of violence since arriving to the region of Catalonia.
Albert Batlle, the head of security for Barcelona's town hall, has said that these minors should be returned to their families.
But the regional chief for social affairs, Chakir el Homrani, has maintained it is more of a social problem and that "we have dehumanized the collective of unaccompanied minors" by associating them with criminality.
Police officials complain about light punishments for petty theft, where even repeat offenders are often allowed to pay a fine instead of doing jail time for thefts for of less than 400 euros (443 dollars).
Police said that arrests for violent robberies have increased by 80% this year. But that of those 1,627 arrested individuals, only 159, or 9.7%, were kept in custody until trial.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed satisfaction on Monday after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor.
Candidates from his pro-European Union centrist Civic Coalition, or running with the party's backing, won in a series of cities in the second round of local elections held on Sunday, among them Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw and Rzeszow.
“It is very difficult to clearly say who won and who lost,” Tusk said Monday. “But if we compare these results, especially in the most attractive places, on these attractive battlefields ... then I actually have reasons for satisfaction.”
“Law and Justice has simply disappeared in many places,” Tusk added at a news conference, referring to the main opposition party.
The results put Civic Coalition in a favorable position as the country looks next to elections to the European Parliament on June 9.
Mayors were chosen in a total of 748 cities and towns where no single candidate won at least 50% of the vote during the first round on April 7.
Candidates for Tusk’s party also recaptured cities where they had not held power for many years, including Zielona Gora, Legnica and Torun.
The local and regional elections were viewed as a test for Tusk's pro-European Union government four months after it took power at the national level. Sunday's second round strengthened the Tusk government's leverage in the cities, which should facilitate cooperation on development projects and allotment of EU funds.
Tusk's allies also won in some places in the first round two weeks ago, including in Warsaw, where incumbent Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski was an easy victor.
In the first round, the right-wing Law and Justice, prevailed on the level of regional assemblies in the country's 16 provinces, where it took 34.3% of the votes, while Tusk's Civic Coalition got 30.6%. Law and Justice governed on the national level from 2015-23.
Tusk’s socially liberal Civic Coalition traditionally has strong support in cities, while Law and Justice has a more solid base in conservative rural areas, particularly in eastern Poland.
Civic Coalition is the largest group in a three-party coalition that governs the EU nation of 38 million people. The coalition is pro-European Union but otherwise spans a wide ideological spectrum with left-wing politicians in the Left party as well as conservatives in the Third Way.
Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Campaign posters promote candidates as Poles vote in local and regional elections in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk reacts during his and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting with students in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk listens to the media in Berlin, Germany, Friday, March 15, 2024. Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
