Mayor says shooting must be "last resort" for police

Barcelona"We'll check whatever needs to be checked as many time as it needs to be checked." The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, had to explain today, for the first time, the actions of city police officers who ended up shooting a homeless man. Colau argued that the fact that the Guardia Urbana fired is "completely exceptional" and that they do not want this to happen: "It has to be the last resort". She has insisted that the use of guns by the police cannot be normalised and that, therefore, the performance will be reviewed "down to the last millimeter".

The mayor accepted, in the plenary session of this Friday, the request of ERC for specific training about the homeless to be offered to police officers and for a specific protocol of intervention for actions like this to be drawn up. She also assured that the injured man's state of health is improving and that he is coming out of the critical situation.

What the municipal government has not accepted is the demand from groups such as JxCat or the PP to provide the municipal police with tasers. The deputy mayor of Security, Albert Batlle, has urged councillors not to make decisions in the heat of the moment and to open a "calm debate" on this issue. "They want to introduce elements of discord where there are none," the deputy mayor said, in response to the opposition's insistence on calling for changes such as the use of tasers.

The head of Security has accepted JxCat's request to provide the reinforcement, emergency and proximity unit (UREP) of the city police with more personnel, an aspect that he has said is in process, with 25 more agents to be added to the current 128. Batlle, on the other hand, has rejected the proposal of the same group to incorporate single-person cameras. He has defended that this is an issue that is being worked on within the framework of the strategic plan of the city police.

Cs has accused the City Council of ignoring the UREP and of not providing it with the necessary resources, and has recalled events such as the damage to the City Hall after the demonstration against the evictions and against the eviction of the Buenos Aires House. The council has recalled at this point that it has already committed to reviewing the surveillance protocols of the municipal buildings.