The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) and the National Police launched an operation this Tuesday morning against a criminal group dedicated to selling counterfeit materials, which were then marketed by street vendors in the Salou area of Tarragona. The operation resulted in nineteen arrests and a large amount of counterfeit material seized. A dozen searches were carried out in homes and warehouses: six in Salou and the rest in Reus and Les Borges del Camp (Baix Camp). This extensive police deployment was met with a hostile response from street vendors, who threw stones at the police line. Three Mossos d'Esquadra officers were injured, and damage was caused to private and police vehicles.

This Monday marks exactly one year since the Catalan elections of May 12. And while some things have changed (first and foremost, the political orientation of the government), others remain unchanged. This is the case with the urban planning process for the Hard Rock megaproject, one of the key players in the election: the then-president, Pere Aragonès. dissolved Parliament when it was unable to approve the 2024 budget due to the cross-veto between the PSC and Comuns over this tourist complex in Vila-seca and Salou. A year later, Aragonès maintained this Monday that he does not regret having brought forward the elections because there was a "blockade" that made governability unviable and because of the "clamp between PSC and Junts" over the Hard Rock. "There was an interest in the Republican government not continuing," he told Ser Catalunya in relation to the lack of support to approve the budget. In any case, the understanding that ERC, Comuns, and the PSC could not reach was possible after the elections, when the three parties agreed, in the investiture agreements, to eliminate the tax privilege at this casino. With the Department of Territory in the hands of the Socialists and the tax privilege already rejected by the Parliament, how is the project doing?