The preparations for the Sant Joan festival this Sunday have been marked by looking at the sky. The scattered rains in the morning suggested that the night’s party could be washed out, but in the end it is expected that little rain will fall, moderate and concentrated only in points on the Barcelona pre-coastal and in the eastern pre-Pyrenees. For the festival, the Mossos d’Esquadra and local police have been mobilized throughout the territory, as well as the Generalitat Firefighters and cleaning staff. In Barcelona, where festivals are held in every neighborhood, Barceloneta beach will once again be one of the busiest points. The area is scheduled to be cleared at six in the morning to begin cleaning, for which a total of 1,000 workers and 500 vehicles will be assigned.
This number of cleaning workers represents an increase in the deployment made by Barcelona City Council, which also increases the resources of Guàrdia Urbana, as reported last Thursday. The City Council has activated a specific device to coordinate municipal services focused on those spaces that have a “more intensive and massive” use, such as beaches, which will remain open throughout the night. The Urban Guard, which has planned to channel the flow of people entering Barceloneta beach at its ends, has also increased its presence in the fishing district, “to ensure the rest of the residents.” Controls on alcohol consumption on public roads have also been intensified and alcohol and drug controls have been increased throughout the city.
The City Council’s plan involves having information teams of 11 people on the nine beaches of Barcelona, active until three in the morning to then give way to announcements over the public address system. The rescue and lifeguard service will remain active until ten at night. And the cleaning service will add 517 people and 232 vehicles to its usual holiday staff, making a total of a thousand workers and 500 vehicles. The forecast is that the beaches will reopen when the cleaning is finished, between nine and ten in the morning on Monday.
The Barcelona Firefighters will be deployed throughout the city and both the City Council and the Generalitat have activated their protocols: Barcelona the Civil Protection, Prevention, Fire Extinction and Rescue Service (SPCPEIS), and the Generalitat the Procicat pre-alert for risk of fires due to festivals, fires and fireworks and firecrackers. The Generalitat has advised buying firecrackers in authorized places and not launching them within 500 meters of the forest, as well as not making bonfires without authorization from the City Council or within 15 meters of facades and cars and never under power lines.
Barcelona will also have a lilac point, a place for advice and attention to sexist violence that may occur during festivals. The one on the Bogatell breakwater will extend its daytime hours until ten at night, and from then on until six in the morning it will provide a night service.
The public transport network also increases its usual service to respond to the demand of the festivals. In Barcelona, the Metro and Tram networks will open all night, and the number of trains in circulation will increase, especially on L4, which reaches the beach. Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) will provide the service until two in the morning, and Renfe will increase its offer with 10,500 additional seats and with a reinforcement on the trains that link Barcelona with the coastal towns of Garraf, Maresme and Costa Brava. All in all, mobility by private vehicle has been very high, with some 478,000 vehicles leaving the metropolitan area of Barcelona until 3 p.m. on Saturday in the operation leaving through the Sant Joan bridge. The exit operation coincided with the celebration of the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Montmeló (Barcelona).
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