The Madrid City Council has designed a broad security device for Halloween night and the Feast of All Saints, with the deployment of 1,700 municipal officers during these days. To this reinforcement are added the officers of the ordinary service, prepared to join in if necessary, in a coordinated operation with the Policía Nacional in response to calls for possible acts of vandalism scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
"There are some reports that say those calls may have been canceled, but obviously we cannot be certain that that will indeed happen," said the deputy mayor, delegate for Security and Emergencies and municipal spokesperson, Inma Sanz, at the press conference following the Governing Board meeting.
Reinforcement in cemeteries and control of street vending
The municipal plan contemplates the presence of 920 Policía Municipal officers in the city cemeteries, with the aim of ensuring mobility at the access points, the safety of visitors and the prevention of the illegal street vending of flowers in the surroundings. In the two large municipal cemeteries, la Almudena and Carabanchel, drones will be used as support for surveillance.
Inspection of entertainment venues and alcohol and drug checks
During the afternoon and night of Saturday, coinciding with Halloween, a specific reinforcement of 350 municipal police officers will be deployed to supervise entertainment venues and scheduled parties. These officers will focus on checking capacities, the presence of minors and compliance with closing hours, in addition to establishing alcohol and drug checks at different points in the capital.
Protection of EMT buses and health reinforcement
Policía Municipal will also increase surveillance on EMT Madrid buses to prevent incidents such as the throwing of eggs or other objects, due to the risk this poses to road safety. This operation will involve 430 officers, especially concentrated in the afternoon and night of the 31st.
The Samur-Civil Protection teams will likewise reinforce their usual service for Halloween night. During that time slot, around twenty additional units will be added (eight basic ambulances, two advanced ambulances, eight first response units and the activation of two DEPAS vehicles in the event of a possible need to intervene in disturbances), in addition to a command post and five more operators at the central office. In total, the health reinforcement will amount to around 65 professionals.
Extended hours in municipal cemeteries
Servicios Funerarios de Madrid will maintain extended hours and uninterrupted service in the large cemeteries until Monday, November 2, inclusive. The cemeteries of Nuestra Señora de la Almudena, Civil, Hebreo and Sur Carabanchel are open from 8 to 6:30 p.m.
The rest of the municipal cemeteries (Fuencarral, El Pardo, Vallecas, Canillas and Aravaca) maintain their usual hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week, but bring forward their opening to 8 on All Saints' Sunday. The smaller cemeteries, which normally only open two days a week (Cristo de El Pardo, Canillejas, Barajas and Villaverde), will remain open every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with opening from 8 on Sunday, the 1st.
Health workers and volunteers from Samur-Civil Protection will be deployed preventively in the large municipal cemeteries of La Almudena and Sur Carabanchel, with a health resource in each of them in the form of a basic ambulance.
Message of firmness in the face of possible disturbances
The deputy mayor has endorsed the statements of the mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, calling for "acting with all possible force" against any serious acts of vandalism, similar to those that occurred in Barcelona or Bilbao.
"In the face of those possible criminal acts, the Police have to act with all possible force and will have the total and complete support of the City Council of Madrid, as unfortunately they have not had from who until a few days ago was their boss in the Government Delegation," Sanz said.
The Security official has warned that "if someone wants to come and smash the streets of Madrid or to burn the streets they will encounter a forceful police response," which is what "a Rule of Law should do in defense of its citizens and in defense of peaceful coexistence".
"Those kinds of acts of vandalism and urban guerrilla warfare that have taken place in Bilbao and in Barcelona had a call for that to happen also in Madrid last Saturday. It did not happen, fortunately, and what we have to do is be very alert that those situations can be carried out in the coming weeks and put all the resources and everything that is in our power to try to prevent them," stressed the Delegate for Security and Emergencies, who advanced that the deployments "are going to be broad" and there will be "a very massive police presence in the street".