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Date Published: 09/02/2022

ARCHIVED - Spain launches task force to tackle escalating youth gang violence

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

There are approximately 600 youth gangs in operation across Spain

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Spain launches task force to tackle escalating youth gang violence

The violent death of two young gang members last week, one of whom was just 15 years old, has refocused the Spanish government on tackling its action plan against organised youth groups.

The latest data counts 600 of these youth groups across Spain, and in the first half of 2021 alone, 117 young gang members were arrested. To this end, the ‘Hispanic operation’ was launched in Madrid at the end of last year with a “redesign of the police operation” in the community, which reportedly has 400 active underage gang members.

The recent murders have shifted the focus back on the problem, with the regional government calling for more police controls and even going as far as accusing the executive of whitewashing the figures. The child killed on Madrid’s Atocha street on Saturday night was a known sympathiser of the Los Trinitarios youth gang and was stabbed to death while confronting rival Dominican Don’t Play gang members. The teenager was carrying a 60-centimetre-long machete at the time of the attack.

Also of interest: Arrested: Murcia gang that used minors for break-ins and armed robberies

According to the Ministry of the Interior, there has only been a slight upward trend in gang activity since 2019, while the National Police in Madrid claim that violent incidents have actually decreased in the last three years. This is in stark contrast with the report prepared by the evangelist centre, which insists that of the 2,500 gang member it has registered, 1,700 are minors, 500 are children aged between 11 and 13 and 1,200 are between 14 and 18.

Whichever figures are correct, the undeniable fact is that there has been an enormous increase in the number of youth carrying knives all across Spain, and the Hispanic Operation has been implemented in several districts in the capital where gang members congregate, resulting in “the seizure of machetes” and arrests every weekend.

The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, is working closely with Madrid on updating the plan to counteract the problem, but he still insisted this week that Spain is becoming a safer country.

“In the last three years, the crime rate has dropped by 5%,” he said, thanks to “more than 10,000 new agents” dedicated to patrolling the streets.

Image: Emergencias Madrid

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