“If you go out, you expose yourself. Lately, in La Mercè has always had something” summarizes Hector without giving it too much importance. This 31-year-old was one of the thousands of people who danced, sang and enjoyed the concerts that took place on Maria Cristina Avenue this Saturday night. Like many other groups of young people, they arrived around 11 p.m. to the area where the bottles with the music of the stage. “The atmosphere was normal people danced, sang and drank, but good vibes. There were a lot of students and groups of minors & rdquor ;, he explains. Nothing predicted that in just a few hours a stab wound to the side would end the life of a 20-year-old boy.
Héctor and his friends stayed in the crowd until the concerts ended, then headed to a nightclub in the Gràcia neighborhood. “Nothing we saw that night made us think that it could end the way it did. I found out this morning looking at Instagram and it shocked me. It could be any of us & rdquor ;, he says. Even so, he is not resigned and assures that “It is what it is. We will continue to go out the same, but if we see a mess, we will move away & rdquor ;, he predicts.
the spirit of resignation it is shared, if not by all, at least by many other young people. Roger He was also at Maria Cristina last night and he didn’t expect to wake up to the news of the stabbing and the vandalism, and he agrees with Héctor that these kinds of altercations are less and less surprising. “You end up thinking, dammit, what if it happens to me? But deep down, it can happen to you at a party or anywhere else at night. We have to be careful, but we don’t have to stop going out either & rdquor ;, argues the first-year student.
quiet return home
“We were very comfortable and the atmosphere was not bad at all & rdquor ;, justifies the 17-year-old. After the concerts, he also left the area with his friends and he emphasizes that the majority did so. “At 2 in the morning, it started to empty, most went elsewhere or home. There yes, perhaps the atmosphere was a little Less pleasant, but we had no problem on the subway on the way home & rdquor ;, ditch. The pandemic has fueled the desire to go out and the altercations, although they are uncomfortable, are not going to turn them off.
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After the departure of most of the attendees, those who remained were grouped in the MNAC stairs, top avenue, and there in small groups they continued to drink and listen to music. “There were mostly boys, some with a little more ‘look’, but we didn’t see or fights, neither clashes, or anything, just some group of guys getting high with balloons,” explains Laura. “It’s also true that if it had happened on Friday, we wouldn’t have gone out on Saturday. Because of the bad vibes and because our parents wouldn’t have let us either”, ditch Laura. She met with some friends early in the evening, and they were in the area of the Plaza de Espanya until after 3 in the morning. “We came home by subway, it was no later than half past three, but we already knew from last year that it was the time when things usually start to roll and we preferred to avoid it,” she explains. He wasn’t wrong.
Around 4 in the morning, some 50 young people who refused to leave the Plaza de España so that the cleaning teams could do their job confronted the police, smashed shop windows in the neighborhood, threw bottles, overturned containers and set fires. to urban furniture and even some motorcycles and bicycles. “It’s really sad that parties end like this. But they are always small groups of people who feel like messing up. It is not the general tonic”, assures Héctor embarrassed.