The merchants of Passeig de Gràcia estimate the economic losses due to the riots at more than one million euros and reproach the “ambiguity” of the Government

The Passeig de Gràcia Association, which brings together more than a hundred commercial establishments on this Barcelona avenue and its surroundings, quantifies the damage caused in its premises by the disturbances of the last two weeks after the imprisonment of rapper Pablo Hasel.

The president of the entity, LluÃs Sans, has demanded this afternoon “the full dismantling, through police investigation, of organized violent groups.” In his opinion, Barcelona has experienced “unusual events, which do not occur in other cities in Europe” and has given as an example the attack on police stations or “that police action during altercations is questioned by the same Govern“.” Some political officials have maintained a calculated ambiguity in their words giving oxygen to those responsible for the riots, “he denounced.

The president of the group of merchants believes that the number of detainees in Barcelona for the violent episodes is “surprisingly low” and has asked to provide the Mossos d’Esquadra agents with greater protection and more effective tools against groups that star in altercations.

In recent days, several business entities have raised their voices against the incidents and the actions of political leaders. Last Monday, Economy Circle condemned the lukewarmness of the Generalitat with these events and called for the urgent formation of a Government that overcomes “the policy of blocks.” Likewise, tomorrow is scheduled to hold a unitary act of more than a hundred organizations, such as employers’ associations Work Promotion Y Pimec, to demand that the violence in the streets cease and that Catalonia overcome the institutional paralysis to move towards “economic recovery”.