Extra police and firefighters for Sant Joan festival

This weekend sees one of Catalonia’s most popular annual festivals, the Nit de Sant Joan, or Saint John’s Eve when bonfires and fireworks take center stage in celebrating the midsummer solstice. In response, the Catalan interior department will deploy 3,197 Mossos d’Esquadra police officers from Friday afternoon, when it is estimated that over half a million vehicles will leave the Barcelona area as people go away for the weekend.

The estimate of 515,000 vehicles is a 14% increase on the number for 2017. The worst congestion on Friday evening is expected on the AP-7 motorway between Sant Cugat and Barberà, and around Maçanet de la Selva, as well as on the C-32 main road, north towards Mataró. Police will set up additional lanes on these stretches of motorway. Meanwhile, on Saint John’s Eve itself, on June 23, police plan to set up 68 alcohol and drug checkpoints.