Parlon confirms that the minors detained for the Manresa crime were born in Catalonia

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 it had been speculated, especially on social media but also in the political sphere, 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 occurred during a nighttime fight at the local festival. In the confrontation that ended in a fatal stabbing, two groups of four or five people each would have faced each other. The victim is Carles Vilajosana, 45 years old, a gardener and father of twins. He lived in Castellnou de Bages and was a well-known figure in the region due to his involvement with political and social organizations.

The minister recalled that the police investigation remains open to clarify the circumstances of the events and whether more people are involved. Regarding the two arrested individuals, they will be brought before the Barcelona Juvenile Prosecutor's Office. Parlon insisted that the minors have families 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. Regarding the messages disseminated by Ignacio Garriga (Vox) and Sílvia Orriols (Aliança Catalana), Parlon criticized the exploitation of a "very serious" and painful event to "generate hatred" by making "opportunistic and xenophobic" associations, and added that these are behaviors that must be responded to at the political and social level.

In fact, the mayor of Manresa, the republican Marc Aloy, has also asked not to take advantage of the family's pain to fuel partisan debate, while condemning the crime "in a resounding and unequivocal way". Together with the Minister of Justice, Ramon Espadaler, the mayor participated in the minute of silence called in solidarity with the victim's family and announced that the City Council will present itself as a private prosecutor.

The death has caused a strong shock in Manresa. Yesterday, Tuesday, people linked to Aliança Catalana called a rally that brought together about 500 people, with slogans that falsely linked the arrested minors with unaccompanied migrant minors. This Wednesday, the council organized a minute of silence, in which Vilajosana's sister and representatives of the city's Islamic communities also participated.

The racist messages following this crime have also received a response from the Popular Movement of Manresa, which in a statement lamented the death of Carles Vilajosana, well known and loved 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 intervention, 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.