VIDEO | Neighbors stop a pickpocket in their tracks and detain them in downtown Barcelona

Barcelona adds a new episode of crime on its streets. This time, in the central and touristy Passeig de Gràcia, where several citizens decided to take matters into their own hands. The images shared on social media show how two motorcyclists and a young woman detain a pickpocket after catching him in the act. Around them, dozens of pedestrians watch the scene.

The thief remains immobilized on the ground while residents wait for the arrival of the Urban Guard. The incident quickly went viral. Within a few hours, the images had spread across social media platforms. As happens more and more often, it's the non-subsidized channels and the citizens themselves who report what happens:

More and more citizens organize

The scene isn't isolated, but rather part of a pattern that repeats with increasing frequency in Barcelona and other Catalan cities. Citizens are increasingly tired of thefts, impunity, and institutional passivity. That's why more and more residents are organizing, as has already happened in Sabadell, in Raval, or in Barceloneta.

In some cases, self-organization has gone even further. Citizen patrols have emerged in places like Bellvitge or Terrassa. There, residents use WhatsApp groups to coordinate, patrol the streets, and confront crime. The origin is always the same: squatting, thefts, threats, and systematic abandonment by the authorities.

Some mayors have criticized these residents. In Sabadell, they called them "radicals," and in Terrassa, they were accused of "alarmism." The truth is that the phenomenon is spreading, fueled by an increasingly evident reality and one that someone like Albiol already predicted. In other words, if the State doesn't provide solutions, citizens will seek those solutions.

More than 3,000 repeat offenders

Catalonia currently has more than 3,000 repeat offenders, according to data from Mossos. These are people arrested at least three times for property crimes. 80% are men and the majority don't have a Spanish ID. This was acknowledged by the Interior Minister herself, Núria Parlon, in October of last year.

The strategy of Govern is to toughen monitoring and pressure on this group. The official motto is "whoever does it, pays." Meanwhile, on the street, it's the residents who pay. As long as legal reforms don't arrive—which don't depend on Govern—solutions will only be cosmetic.