Prevention and support protocol activated for gender violence and LGBTI-phobia
Barcelona City Council has launched a special operation for the celebrations for Midsummer’s Eve, with all relevant services to be coordinated to respond to different needs that may arise during the night. Attention will mainly focus of places where people gather in numbers, such as the city’s beaches, with services operating all through the night.
The operation includes a special prevention and support protocol for gender violence and LGBTI-phobia. Adopting the perspective of prevention, the protocol takes into account the protection of possible routes taken by people as they make their way home from certain areas and head for the nearest public transport stops. These are places where harassment or sexual aggression could occur.
To offer citizens a quality service and protection against these types of conduct and violence, and without overlooking other parts of the city, the City Police has designed some routes from the beaches to get to public transport stop near points where numbers of people gather for the celebrations.
Patrols assigned to this service will take an active approach, paying special attention to any situations of this nature that they might identify. Patrols will make stops in dark areas which are not well used due to their location or poor lighting, as these may be more attractive to possible aggressors.
A purple point will also be open at the beaches during the celebrations at night, offering awareness, prevention and support services relating to gender violence and LGBTI-phobia in this area.
The purple point will open at 10 pm and stay open until 3 am, offering a fixed information and support point in the building of the Directorate for Beaches (Bogatell groyne), with space to provide shelter for people if needed. There will also be pairs of support workers out and about along the beaches, on hand to help with prevention and support for members of the public in the area.
The Directorate for Beaches and the Department for Lighting have carried out an inspection to add public lighting at the beaches, the goal being to ensure the best possible coverage during the celebrations. Specific checks have also been made at all facilities in the area to avoid incidents.
Similarly, an inspection has also been made by the Directorate for Gender Services and Time Policies, to analyse the process to install extra toilets for the occasion with the goal of introducing feminist criteria into the process.
Barcelona City Council works all year round to make Barcelona a city free of gender violence and offer citizens various support services and resources to eradicate it. Resources are available 24 hours a day, every day of the week.
- Support service against gender violence: 900 900 120
- WhatsApp for police information and advice on gender violence: 601 001 122
- Emergency phone number: 112
