The State Security Forces and Corps will increase preventive, surveillance and anti-terrorist response measures, as well as random checks of vehicles and people, in all those places where there may be a high presence or transit of people.
Interior reinforces anti-terrorism prevention measures during Easter Week
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The Ministry of the Interior has decided to reinforce the measures provided for in the Anti-Terrorism Prevention, Protection and Response Plan, which remains activated at level 4, given the imminent festive period of Easter Week, a period in which there is a large number of journeys throughout the national territory and an important and numerous participation and presence of citizens in events and acts related to this celebration.
The Terrorist Threat Assessment Committee, the body responsible for assessing all the security elements that affect the risk of terrorism in Spain, held its regular weekly meeting at the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior, during which it also analysed the security risks inherent to a festive period such as Easter Week.
At the end of the round table meeting, and following the analysis carried out by its members, the Ministry of the Interior has ordered a particularly intense reinforcement during Easter Week of the anti-terrorist measures planned for the current level 4 out of 5 anti-terrorist alerts, as the Secretary of State for Security, Rafael Pérez, in agreement with the Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has informed the Security Forces.
These measures aim to prevent the risks derived from the celebrations and movements of the population and the concentration of citizens for the enjoyment of Easter Week, so they will be aimed at the surveillance and protection of places, spaces and means of transport, religious, leisure or recreational events in general in which a high concentration of people is foreseeable, as well as the surveillance and protection of strategic objectives that are essential for the normal functioning of citizen activity.
These measures to intensify anti-terrorist police measures will be applied throughout the national territory between 00:00 hours on 22 March and 15:00 hours on 2 April 2024.
The reinforcement seeks to strengthen the security arrangements and the intelligence, control and anti-terrorist monitoring capacities of the State Security Forces and Corps, as well as those of the other police forces and other public or private security institutions, bodies and operators, within the framework of their respective functional and territorial competences and responsibilities.
During the period of application of the reinforcement measures, the State Security Forces and Corps will increase preventive, surveillance and anti-terrorist response measures, as well as random checks of vehicles and persons, in all those places where there may be a high presence or transit of people, such as squares, promenades and large shopping streets; leisure, sporting or religious events; emblematic buildings, centres or facilities with a large number of visitors, and in general all those places or buildings where special concentrations of citizens are expected to take place.
These preventive measures will also be intensified in major centres, infrastructures and air, land and sea transport interchanges, particularly those that will have a greater influx of citizens and traffic.
Institutional coordination
The Government delegations in those autonomous communities that have their police forces or attached National Police units will inform the autonomous authorities of these special intensity and reinforcement measures, convening, if necessary, the information and coordination meetings deemed necessary.
To incorporate the operational capabilities of the local police forces into the general objectives of this special-intensity operation, the Interior Ministry has passed it on to the General Secretariat of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) for dissemination among the heads of these municipal bodies.
The communication signed by the Secretary of State for Security has also been sent to private security companies through the Central Private Security Unit of the National Police, to reinforce their services, procedures and collaboration measures corresponding to the current level of anti-terrorist activation.