There was an emergency meeting by Salobreña Board of Spokespersons concerning the stabbing of a minor in the fairground area during the bank-holiday weekend.

The Town Hall has expressed its “absolute support” for its Councillor of Fiestas, Gabriel Alonso, who was heavily criticised by the Police Union for organsing a “macro-fiesta” during the Día de Andalucía, bank-holiday, weekend with very little police presence.

The Town Hall communiqué says that the municipal police have a staff of 15 officers and four on ‘other duties.’

It also says that “the short staffing has been a problem for some years, caused not only by officers reaching retirement and going over from active duties to secondary duties but also because of the legal limitations that town halls have when expanding policing staff.”

Furthermore, there are four vacant positions advertised for filling during 2022.

The Spokespersons for each political party have agreed that the 24-hour shifts have to be modified as they are “inefficient” when so few staff are available for such shift work. This shift system was proposed by the police union, according to the Town Hall. The police union also called for it to be dropped, now

The communiqué concludes with “the tragic occurence was unforeseeable… … and what is more, it took place outside the fairground and was in no way attributable to a lack of policing. We hope the victim recovers soon.”

However, the Sindicato Independiente de la Policía Local de Granada in Salobreña, says that the situation was caused by the macro-fiesta, organised by the Town Hall, putting at risk the lives of police officers owing to the “minimum measures necessary not being adopted.”

Finally the local branch of the far-right party, Vox, said that they don’t agree with the Town Hall communique because it transmits a sentiment that they have not expressed, they say.

Party Spokesperson, Manuel Martín Montero say that during the three days of  fiestas and concerts there was hardly any policing. The incident in which a young person was stabbed led to the above statement from the police union followed by the emergency meetiing of the Board of Spokespersons followed by the communique that was published when concluded.

The communique says that all parties came out in support of the Councillor of Fiestas following the call for his resignation from the police union, which was not the case; i.e., Vox does not back the said councillor against the police union’s demand

“There are three party spokespersons who have not expressed their position regarding this, therefore they [Town Hall] cannot make public declarations in our name,” said Spokesperson Martín Montero.

(News: Salobreña, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia – Photo: RadioSalobreña)