Mayor Colau emphasizes peaceful nature of La Mercè festivities: 'Stop slandering Barcelona'

Barcelona mayor Ada Colau took to Instagram on Monday evening to highlight the overall peaceful nature of the Catalan capital's La Mercè festivities despite criticism over the fatal stabbing of a 25-year-old and vandalism in the Plaça Espanya area on Saturday night.

"We lament the violent death of a person during the festivities and the unacceptable acts of vandalism that occurred on Saturday night," Colau wrote. "All violent acts must be investigated, and those responsible must be brought to justice."

But, she stressed, "over a million people" enjoyed La Mercè activities all over the city and their "real problem was choosing what to do with so many high-quality proposals."

The anti-austerity Barcelona En Comú mayor also criticized the media for the "hours and hours of TV" and headlines focusing on "violence in Barcelona."

"The same week there were another 6 homicides in Catalonia. 7 homicides in 7 days, all of which are horrible and deserve condemnation. So why does the news only say Barcelona has a problem with violence?" she asked.

"Of course, it concerns us and we lament this death. We want Mossos [Catalan police] to investigate it and for everything to be done to prevent it from happening again, but stop slandering Barcelona!"

Barcelona not "Chicago of 1920s or Beirut"

Barcelona councilor for security Albert Batlle, meanwhile, called for people to focus on "objective data" over "perceptions," criticizing media outlets and politicians who "are interested" in tarnishing the city's reputation "as if it were Chicago of the 1920s or Beirut."

In an interview with Catalunya Ràdio, the Socialist acknowledged there had been a homicide on Saturday night, but said the stabbing occurred "400 meters" from where La Mercè activities had been taking place.

Deputy mayor calls for more police

Deputy mayor Jaume Collboni said the council was "doing its homework" by increasing the Guàrdia Urbana police force and asked the Catalan government for more Mossos. 

"Something will have to be improved. It could be protocols or capacity limits but, above all, there must be an increased police presence," the Socialist politician said on Tuesday.  "We have to revise that which went wrong."

According to Collboni, the council will have hired an additional 1,000 officers this term, surpassing the 3,500 mark in 2023. 

Members of the opposition blasted the council for its handling of the events, accusing it of "minimizing" the incidents and declaring Barcelona "unsafe."

Barcelona saw a 12% drop in criminal acts overall last summer compared to the summer of 2019, but arrests for sexual violence increased significantly.