For the municipal and National Police in the city of Granada, the Northern District is a nightmare; whenever they appear, warnings start appearing on chat groups.
The municipal buses run the gauntlet when the work the route through the district, getting stones thrown at them. If you park your car there, don’t expect to find wheels still on it if you leave it over night.
Whole apartment blocks have illegal electricity hook-ups and flats are used as indoor nurseries for cannabis; such is the overload that areas are left without power. Innocent community members pay the price, as always.
The barrios in that area are categorised as ‘high-tension areas.’ N.P. officers have been injured while identifying individuals participating in illegal activities. Yet,it is the law-abiding citizens who suffer the most; not at the hands of the police, but as a consequence of the unrest caused by unruly members of their community.
When the municipal bus company suspends the bus service after yet another vehicles has been targeted, it is the general public in the area who suffer; not the troublemakers.
Police action continues with the Prevention and Reaction Unit (UPR) and the Police Intervention Unit (UIP) stopping vans, and frisking groups, etc. Unlike normal officers, they wear helmets and other protective garments as well as carry shields to fend off thrown objects.
Above, police helicopters, keep an eye out on movments so that they can forewarn ground units of approaching trouble.
Just to give you an example, during one Wednesday during a police operation on Calle Fray Juan Sánchez Cotán, two women were arrested for obstructing the police in their duty, disobedience, and assaulting law enforcement officers. There is a third person, a man, who allegedly threw a glass bottle at a policeman, injuring his knee. This individual, who has already been identified thanks to footage captured by the officers’ body cameras, is currently evading capture by lying low.
According to sources the UPR had arrived in the afternoon to identify people participating in an illegal gambling game. At first it went smoothly without probems, but then several women arrived, and tensions began to build. Eventually, as the crowd’s agitation grew, the units requested reinforcements. More UPR officers arrived at the scene. The mob turned on them, allegedly throwing stones and bottles.
In the end 70 individuals were identified and several arrests made.
Editorial comment: cities all over Spain and indeed all over our reader’s home countries, have this kind of area, especially in industrial cities, so Granada is not special in that sense.
What Granada is, is a beautiful compact city, studded with monuments from the cultures that have contributed to it, some of which are of world renown.
(News: City & Metropolitan Area, Granada, Andalucia)
Keywords: Northern District, Police, No-Go, Unrest, Illegal Activity, Buses Attacked, Arrests Made
news, andalucia, granada, city & metropolitan area, northern district, police, no-go, unrest, illegal activity, buses attacked, arrests made