Sexual assaults have doubled in a year in Girona.

The new crime data from the Ministry of Interior, corresponding to the first quarter of 2025, show a worrying reality.While some crimes decrease, sexual assaults skyrocket. Girona is one of the cities where this type of crime has grown the most, doubling in a year.

Sexual violence against women has generally increased throughout the province of Girona. Crimes against sexual freedom have grown by 50%, and rapes by 140%. In Girona city, although crimes have decreased by 5%, crimes against sexual freedom have increased by 114% and rapes by 100%.

Between January and March 2024, there were 4 rapes in the city of Girona, while in the same period this year there have been 8. Crimes against freedom have gone from 14 to 30 in a year. 

Figueres is another city in the province of Girona with a significant increase in violence against sexual freedom. In a year, crimes of this type have gone from 5 to 14, which represents an increase of 180%. Rapes in this city have gone from 0 to 5. 

Rapes have also doubled in Blanes, while crimes against sexual freedom have increased by 125%. Similar data to those of Lloret de Mar, with an increase in sexual crimes (133%) and double the rapes. In Olot and Roses, rapes have also doubled, which is highly concerning.

rapes increase in Catalonia

Girona is a pronounced case, but not isolated from the increase in sexual assaults. In Catalonia, rapes have increased by 26%, going from 332 to 421 in a year. In the province of Barcelona, they have grown by 22.4%, by 31.1% in the province of Lleida. The province of Tarragona is the exception, with a decrease of 5.4%.

These data reflect the failure of women's protection policies, despite having had the most feminist council in history. This increase must also be crossed with data from the Department of Justice, and this opens an uncomfortable debate.

According to these data, the majority of prisoners convicted of sexual assault in Catalan prisons are foreigners. This supports the argument of parties like Vox and Aliança Catalana, which link the increase in insecurity with the rise in immigration. It also puts the left on the ropes, which defends feminism but avoids this reality.

It is also not trivial that the area where sexual assaults increase the most is in one of the two cities governed by the CUP. One thing is not related to the other, but it forces the left to review public security policies.

beyond perceptions

These data also reflect the need to reinforce security on the streets of Catalonia. It has been proven that insecurity is not just perceptions, as the left said, but a reality that citizens suffer daily. The Ministry of Interior has made a change of mindset in this regard, which now must translate into data.

Surveys support both perceptions and data on the increase in sexual crimes against women. The latest survey from the Generalitat showed that more than half of the women in Catalonia have changed their habits for fear of being victims of a crime. In many neighborhoods of large cities,they claim to be afraid to go out at certain hours.