After the incidents that occurred in the nightlife area of La Laguna known as the Quadrilateral last Saturday night, the City Council and the Government Subdelegation in Santa Cruz de Tenerife met yesterday and agreed to resume the security operation launched in October, when similar events occurred, and with which the police presence in the area will be increased and access controls will be resumed to prevent the entry of minors, alcoholic beverages or other unsafe elements.
This was announced yesterday by the Laguna Councilor for Citizen Security, Alejandro Marrero, after the meeting, held electronically, with the sub-delegate of the Government in the province, Javier Plata, as well as with the Local Police and the Canarian Police and Police National, among others.
Resuming the operation ordered in October means, according to the mayor, increasing the police presence in the Quadrilateral “and we will filter at its four entry points so that no minor enters, nor enters with bottles, or alcoholic beverages or any element that supposes a risk to coexistence.
Marrero stressed that the device “worked very well in October and managed to correct this situation in a very short space of time”, so “we trust that the situation will be corrected this weekend”. Even so, the operation will continue for two weeks “at least”, after which “we will meet again, and if necessary also the next one, to assess the situation and we will adapt the resources and means to the situation,” he said. “We cannot allow it to happen again,” he emphasized.
The councilor explained that this past weekend the resources of the Local Police and the National Police had been reinforced, “because we knew that the exams had finished and that we were going to have a small rebound.” “We had a fairly extensive operation but, as you could see, it was insufficient,” he added, so yesterday it was agreed to increase the police presence, although he pointed out that “unfortunately they are events that are being repeated at different points,” so from The National Police indicated “that resources were also going to be allocated to Santa Cruz”, where on Saturday afternoon there was another massive brawl.
The operation will start this Thursday, at 8:00 p.m., and will also include “a reinforcement in public transport areas, such as the Interchange and the tram, so that those minors who may carry drinks or other items are detected before reaching the four access filter points to the Quadrilateral”, explained Marrero. And “it is not only focused on the Quadrilateral but also on the outskirts such as Barrio Nuevo, La Verdellada, La Concepción… where these small bottles can be generated,” he added.
Likewise, “inspections will be carried out in some establishments in case there are minors consuming alcohol, which is not allowed. We have already been doing it 24 hours a day for several weeks so that they do not sell alcoholic beverages after the cut-off time and now we are going to reinforce the inspections of certain premises.”
Santa Cruz
On the other hand, it should be remembered that another massive brawl took place, also on the afternoon of last Saturday, in the surroundings of the Plaza de España in the capital of Tenerife, and in which the Local Police and the National Police had to intervene. The mayor of Santa Cruz, José Manuel Bermúdez, stated yesterday that, in said area “and Anaga Avenue, we have already been acting, in coordination with the National Police, reinforcing security”, although the local councilor pointed out that “it is true that there have been small altercations, and since we do not want it to go any further, we have reinforced security together with the National Police. Let’s hope it doesn’t go any further and is controlled by the security forces.”
Likewise, the delegate of the CSIF union in the City Hall, Jesús Illada, yesterday expressed his concern about this brawl. “They are meetings that are held through social networks and that produce unease among citizens, since they create insecurity and an environment that is not conducive to family life,” he assured COPE Canarias. The spokesman explained that “what happens is that, although we concentrate, we don’t give any trouble. In addition, the rest of the city is left unprotected, since the bulk of the staff has to stay in the trouble spots for hours because the minors fight again at the slightest.” Illada also pointed out that the profile of those involved is very varied: “We are talking about middle-class boys and immigrants, there is everything, what we are clear about is that they all date over the Internet.”
