After the mass blackout of Spain he feared looting and security problems. Reality was very different

Nor pillage. Nor Latrocinio. No chaos unleashed in the streets. Although most of the country stayed yesterday to two candles (literally) and Thousands of Spaniards They went to sleep yet without electricity in their homes and businesses, on April 28, 2025 will not go down in history because it is a day of chaos. Not everything was An oil raftof course, but this morning the Interior Ministry He underlined that the night has been “quiet”, “without remarkable security incidents.”

Nothing that the country has not already lived during the pandemic, when Spain already demonstrated its obedience during the alarm states to stop the COVID-19.

That almost a country is based black (in energy terms), as happened on Monday at 12.33 h in Spain, it obviously has multiple derivatives. It affects the industry. It affects trade. It affects mobility and education. And affects security. Yesterday the government declared The national emergency in eight communities and one of the issues that was in the public debate during the first hours was precisely The media deployment To guarantee security.

“Security problems”

“Madrid has 9,000 streets, 3.5 million inhabitants … If a city is these dimensions, we are all aware, we are all aware that they can give Security problems at very diverse and different points “, warned In the afternoon the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida. Without electricity, many businesses were left without a dataphone, but also without surveillance or automatic systems that allow them to close their premises.

The fear of looting and robberies during the blackout even led some merchants to monitor their stores. In Ayamonte, Huelva, there were who The night passed In their businesses unable to lower the blinds and in Granada the newspaper Ideal speaks of entrepreneurs in a similar situation that resisted to leave their premises. “People take advantage of to steal and we have no system here that allows us to ensure the store,” admitted a ABC The clerk of a store in the center of Madrid while waiting for the supply to be restored.

His suspicion was understandable.

After the Dana de Valencia there were those who took advantage of chaos to make looting and take home batteries, sports material, telephones or consoles, for example, sometimes even with truck help. Only the night from October 30 the National Police arrested 39 people During a surveillance campaign in commercial areas and weeks later, in mid -November, the number of detainees for looting in the areas affected by the rains over 400.

It is not even necessary that an event as devastating as the DANA of Valencia occurs. In 1977 New York lived An electric cut which lasted for a day and resulted in a “night of terror”, in the words of the magazine Timewith the looting of more than 1,615 storesmore than 1,000 fires, around 4,000 detainees and hundreds of injured police. A few weeks ago Before a mass blackout also affected much of Chile, the Buric government chose to decree the state of exception and imposed a curfew between ten and six in the morning.

In Spain the authorities also chose reinforce securityalthough without reaching such drastic measures. The Government Precise that between Monday and Tuesday they deployed through the country More than 30,000 agents of the National Police and Civil Guard, to which other forces of autonomic and local bodies are added.

In Catalonia Los Mossos d’esquadra They lengthened shifts and activated a night security plan with something More than 7,200 agentswhile there were cities that also increased their local endowments. In Vigo The mayor said Yesterday that the Local Police would triple their efforts and at night 13 municipal patrols would be deployed, to which almost twenty nationals would be added.

What has been the balance? A relative tranquility. At least if one takes into account that, although part of the country began to recover electricity within a few hours, there have been cities that took More than 14 hours in having light and the day was marked by Communications problems and traffic lights.

The total alert balance is not yet known, but inner speaks of a “quiet night and without remarkable incidents of security or public order” and both the Mayor of Madrid like that of Barcelona They have highlighted the “civism” of their neighbors. “The Madrid have shown that they give their best in the most difficult moments. In front of the blackout, a lesson of civility,” Almeida presumes.

That does not mean that the last hours have been An oil raft. Eldiario speaks Of robbery attempts, activated alarms and “some” burning containers in localities of Andalusia and in the city of the emergency services had attended in the afternoon Double of calls of the usual, although Many incidents They were related to people trapped in elevators or people with mobility problems. In Other cities From the country and less inhabitants, the dripping of notices to the authorities throughout the day was also intense.

The most graphic answer He has given it However, this morning, Mayor José Luis Martínez- Almeida when they have asked him about how the night had gone in the capital, in which, he says, only a reysta and a launa was recorded.

“Quieter than anyone”, summarizes the councilor from Madrid.

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