Spain: Barcelona residents protest increasing crime and insecurity

W/S Protesters marching, Barcelona
W/S Protesters holding banners
SOT, Merce, a resident of Barcelona (Spanish): "Grandparents cannot go to collect their pensions because they wait for them to rob them when they enter their homes. Children cannot go to school with a mobile phone or expensive shoes because they steal them."
W/S Protesters marching
M/S Banner reading (Spanish): "In Barcelona they kill for a cell phone"
M/S Protester
W/S Protesters marching
M/S Protesters chanting
SOT, Ariel, police man (Spanish): "We participate for two reasons; one because as workers we are suffering from an aggression of insecurity in the city because we have no troops and then because we are residents of Barcelona and we suffer from it, we, the family, our friends and especially because we want the neighbours to know that Barcelona Police are with them."
W/S Protesters marching
M/S Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya
W/S Protesters marching
SOT, Spokesperson of the Tsunami Neighbourhood platform (Catalan): "We cannot allow the lack of coordination and the null understanding between the City Council of Barcelona, and the Catalan Generalitat cannot avoid the photography of continued degradation of the daily life of Barcelona"
M/S Protesters writing on placard
W/S Protesters marching
SOT, Josep, a resident of Barcelona (Spanish): "We have decided to say enough and we will give a document to the authorities. We must change the laws so that criminals do not remain on the streets the day after committing a crime."
W/S Police and protesters
W/S Protest
SCRIPT
Hundreds of Barcelona residents marched through the streets of the Catalan capital on Saturday to protest against increasing insecurity and call on the authorities to apply tighter measures against criminal offences.
Protesters were seen chanting slogans and holding banners that read "In Barcelona they kill for a cell phone."
Josep, a resident of Barcelona said "we have decided to say enough and we will give a document to the authorities. We must change the laws so that criminals do not remain on the streets the day after committing a crime."
"We participate for two reasons; one because as workers we are suffering from an aggression of insecurity in the city because we have no troops and then because we are residents of Barcelona and we suffer from it, we, the family, our friends and especially because we want the neighbours to know that Barcelona Police are with them" A protester and police officer said.
According to reports, the Catalan capital has long had problems with pickpockets and bag thefts, particularly targeting tourists. While these crimes tend not to feature violence, the city has seen a 30 per cent increase in violent robberies over the last year, with many shopkeepers likewise reporting an increase in violent theft.