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The escalation of street violence in Cartagena is sounding alarm bells for both residents and the local police force. Just two weeks after a gang of youths attacked twelve officers in the Mediterráneo Urbanisation and set fire to rubbish bins during the festival of San Juan, another two minors have been arrested for a violent altercation outside a bar.

 

The frightening brawl broke out between two girls at the Pico Esquina bar at the corner of Plaza José María Artes, Plaza del Ayuntamiento and Calle Bodegones, a popular spot frequented by officials and politicians, as well as locals and tourists. The terrace was full of diners at 11.45pm on Saturday July 9 when as many as thirty youths surrounded the bar, cheering on the scrappers and recording the fight on their phones.

 

Well-meaning waiters tried to separate the girls, at which point their friends attacked, throwing tables and chairs around the terrace and smashing glasses and plates. A vicious assault ensued, with one youngster threatening staff and customers with the metal pole used to open the awning and others kicking and punching the waiters.

 

The owner of the bar, María Teresa Devia, got caught in the crossfire when a glass smashed into her face, cutting her forehead and cheekbone, which needed stitches, and damaging one of her eyes.

 

“I noticed that something very strong exploded in my head. And suddenly I saw that my blood was dripping,” Ms Devia explained the day after the attack.

 

 

Residents of the Plaza del Ayuntamiento claim that the “source of the conflict” is a bar on Calle Bodegones which attracts countless underage boys and girls at the weekend. The revels more often than not result in fights which spill out onto the streets and terraces of nearby establishments.

 

“We have a problem with people who instead of going out to have a good time just want to mess it up,” the mayor acknowledged.

 

While there is a constant police presence in the area, officials now feel that reinforcements from the National Police may need to be drafted in. The European recommendation is that cities have 1.8 agents per thousand inhabitants but in Cartagena, according to the union representative of the UGT in the Local Police Juan José González Salas, that number is as low as 1.1.

 

Mr González Salas described the latest aggressors as “young people aged 16 and 17 who have lost respect for all authority.”

 

“Response capacity is being lost in the face of the turn that the city is taking. The space that we are losing, because we are losing the street, they are taking it,” he concluded.

 

Image: José López Martínez on Twitter