Guardia Urbana will condemn the graffiti on listed buildings and public transport as damage

Punitive offensive by the Barcelona City Council to prevent rude behavior a year before the municipal elections. The conscription would condemn damage to graffiti on heritage buildings such as metro cars and churches as a crime, so anyone caught doing graffiti could face a prison sentence and a fine of more than 3,000 euros. The decision represents a drastic change in the way graffiti is dealt with in the city as until now 99% of the restrictions were followed by administrative means with fines ranging between 300 and 500 euros. Over the past five years, Guardia Urbana has filed an average of 150 to 200 complaints annually.

In this way, police controls will be intensified to prevent graffiti writers from leaving without penalty on urban furniture, transport or heritage buildings, as has happened in recent weeks at the Maria del Mar or Pai Church. In this sense, the Deputy Mayor of Security, Albert Battle, assured that criminal responsibility would be requested when the graffiti involved “a significant effect of the public good” and in cases where this “parental aggression” goes beyond “stigmatising”. Because it forces to stop service like public transport.

In addition, Battle pointed out that the decline is due to a lack of “inhibitory acceptance action” and “cleanliness” by the concurrency. For this reason, he indicated that the aim is to end the impunity of graffiti artists by raising fines for damage to historical or cultural heritage, as well as transportation or street furniture. “We must address the state of public space degradation with effort and resources, and clear and clear political guidelines,” the deputy mayor said.

The city council grew from 30 to 50 places in the city, able to “respond to artistic proposals” of graffiti artists. It will also strengthen specific cleaning teams for graffiti as it currently has 26 teams from Monday to Saturday, although six of them will work exclusively in Ciutat Vela.

As part of the “Cudem Barcelona” campaign to reduce uncivilized behavior in public places and improve coexistence, the concierge will act against the abandonment of graffiti, commercial collections and heavy objects on the street. For this reason, they will increase the control and cleaning of these graffiti by one million euros in listed buildings with more operators who will gain the flexibility to act. Last year, 115,092 interventions were carried out and 279,422 square meters of façade were cleaned, while this year in 2022, 30,345 interventions have already been done and 71,114 square meters have been cleaned.

The consignee will strengthen the collection of commercial waste every day and prevent the container from falling by allowing some stores to fold or leave the bins out of them. This will result in 44 informers who will carry out the educational tasks of communicating with the local people, although there will also be a fine of between 300 and 3,000 euros if repeated. It exerts control through signs of conflicting points and informational functions in streets and squares, with the fact of non-compliance with rules for collecting dog feces or meeting physical needs on public roads.