Many thefts perpetrated by child gangs have taken place in Barcelona during the summer, creating friction with tourists and with the local population. While the municipal authorities are trying to resolve the situation, Caritas in Barcelona and other NGOs and trades-unions are asking that “light be thrown on the origin of the problem and that all the poor be not criminalized”. Àngels Cardona, of diocesan Caritas of Barcelona, explained that “the street is increasingly becoming the home of those who don’t have a home, also among the young, and this phenomenon needs not to be criminalized but understood: these people are demonstrating that there is a housing problem, and we need to do something about it”. The fact that many of the thefts are carried out by gangs of children from Romania has raised the problem of how to control the schooling of nomads: “We cannot speak of the lack of civilization, but of the lack of social resources”, warn the associations. The spokesperson of the NGOs, Begoña Sánchez, has pointed out that some politicians are making the situation worse with “xenophobic statements that put social harmony at risk”. Caritas in Barcelona provided assistance to 21,018 people in 2004, of which 75% foreigners.
