Residents denounce vandalism of Festes de Sants decorations

Residents of the Barcelona neighborhood of Sants have reported vandalism and thefts of some street decorations on the first night of the Festes de Sants street festival.

Arturo Castro, from the organizing committee of the public festival, explained publicly that the neighbors found the vandalism and damage first thing in the morning in different streets.

For the Festes de Sants, residents of different streets decorate the public spaces with handmade recycled materials in different themes, similar to the Festes de Gràcia, which took place earlier this month.

On Alcolea de Dalt street, which was decorated in the theme of the Harry Potter universe, one of the dolls were missing and some structures were broken. 

On Papin street, inspired by the pioneering Catalan filmmaker Fructuós Gelabert, a structure has been damaged.

Castro regretted the "uncivil" behavior and pointed out that a lot of work goes into every decorated street.

"It's sad because the people who come later [in the week] won't see the decorations as [the vandalism] was done at the beginning," he lamented.

The festival organizer also thinks there is no solution to the problem, and it may happen again on other nights.

According to the secretary of the Federation of the Festes de Sants, the vandalism is not unprecedented, as other years there were also similar situations.

Faced with such situations, the festival organizers have always chosen to keep going ahead with the decorations, and chosen against assembling and disassembling them every day.

The Festes de Sants began on Saturday and will last until September 1,  with more than 425 different activities planned.