Parlon confirms that the minors detained for the Manresa crime were born in Catalonia and denounces xenophobia
On the networks it had been speculated about whether the detainees were unaccompanied foreign minors
The two minors arrested for the Manresa crime were born in Catalonia. This was confirmed this morning by the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, after speculation, especially on social media but also in the political sphere, about whether the arrested individuals were immigrant minors, leading to a proliferation of xenophobic attacks. In an interview with Catalunya Ràdio, the minister explained that the Mossos d'Esquadra are working with the hypothesis that the crime took place during a nighttime fight during the Festa Major. In the confrontation that ended with the fatal stabbing, two groups of four or five people on each side would have clashed.
The minister recalled that the police investigation remains open to clarify the circumstances of the events and if more people are involved. Regarding the two arrested individuals, they will be brought before the Barcelona Juvenile Prosecutor's Office this morning.
Parlon insisted that the minors have family and specified that one of them has Catalan parents and the other has immigrant parents, although both young people were born in Catalonia. She also emphasized that the detainees were not unaccompanied minors nor did they live in any minors' center. When asked about messages spread by Ignacio Garriga (Vox) or Sílvia Orriols (Aliança Catalana), Parlon criticized the exploitation of a "very serious" and painful event to generate "hatred" by making "opportunistic and xenophobic" associations. She warned that one cannot "play with confrontation" or "manipulate information" to generate hatred.
The racist messages following this crime have also received a response from the Moviment Popular de Manresa, which in a statement lamented the death of Carles Vilajosana, a well-known and beloved figure in the city. While rejecting violence in the city, they warned: "We will not allow what has happened to be used by the far-right to generate even more violence against other neighbors and communities in the city, who have nothing to do with what happened."
A "not exclusively police" solution
During her speech, Parlon insisted that security forces are working to remove bladed weapons from public spaces, and said that the police must do their job with investigations and arrests. However, she valued that in a case like this week's in Manresa, the resolution cannot be "exclusively with police tools", and called to "reflect on what is happening to us as a society". "Faced with the most worrying violence, this will require other approaches that are not exclusively police-related," she said. After recalling that the two arrested had families, she referred to "educational" or "family" variables to be part of the solution.
Minute of silence
The victim of the Manresa crime was Carles Vilajosana, a 45-year-old gardener, father of twins who lived in Castellnou de Bages and was a well-known person in the region. The alert reached the Mossos d'Esquadra on Tuesday at 5:10 AM and during the day the first steps of the investigation were taken, which remains open to clarify the motives for the assault and if there are more involved.
The Manresa City Council has declared a day of mourning and this midday at 12 PM there will be a minute of silence to condemn the crime. Furthermore, the mayor Marc Aloy announced that the council will present itself as a prosecutor in the case and denounced that "the extreme right" has spread misinformation about the case that has shocked the municipality. He also asked: "What are we doing wrong for 16-year-olds to carry bladed weapons?".