Barcelona is a shielded city this weekend as 8,000 police, some 4,500 regional Mossos d’Esquadra and 3,500 agents more made up of Guardia Civil and National Police, protect the European Central Bank Summit. Demonstrations are feared, not only from Spanish groups such as the M-15 indignant, but also from groups from across Europe. Disturbances have been seen in the city recently with the General Strike on May 29 and students’ protests. Interior Minister, Jorge Fernández Díaz, said some days ago that it was important that Barcelona, Cataluña and España show an image ‘of security and peaceful co-existence’ to the world during the summit. Two centres will coordinate the security operation, one in the Government Delegation headed by the Secretary of State for Security, Igancio Ulloa, and the other in the offices of the Interior, directed by the councillor, Felp Puig. The Ministry for the Interior has revealed that the Mossos d’Esquadra have installed several mobile surveillance videos across the city, which will be removed when the summit ends. Special protection of the Hotel Arts and the Forum de Barcelona, where the meetings are to be held, will be provided by the National Police and Guardia Civil. The number of Guardia Civil on duty at the airport has been doubled. The reintroduction of border controls with France, following the lifting of the Schengen agreement over the period of the summit, has already resulted in 17 arrests.
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