Midnight is already hovering like a black hole over Leganes, and its streets look emptier than they did during the Covid pandemic. However, like an oxymoron, next to the Plaza de Juan Manuel Serrat, ominous reggaeton music resounds on all sides of La Coverta. … . It’s already early Sunday morning and the smallest bodies know it. Among a crowd of children with hair like cauliflower, a taxi driver asserts that it’s not what it used to be (he points out that a few years ago): Yes, there are stabbings, drugs, gangsters and robberies, but any time in the past has been worse. Event records say just the opposite. On Halloween, a couple found a box, took it home, and discovered a gun inside, he said. The girl ended up with a bullet that entered her face when they “played” with the gun. Her boyfriend, who took her out into the street and left her lying and badly injured, is already in prison.
The cold and very long night will end with the identification of 550 people (many of whom have police records); 30 detainees (all on charges of violating immigration law, except for two on judicial claims); Four reports for drug possession and three labor inspection penalties. They will also find many minors.
About 60 National Police officers gather to receive final instructions in the light rain at the end of November in the parking lot of the municipal police station. At one o’clock at night, there was a “briefing” for the commanders, where they already had inside information about the location of the four gambling dens they planned to storm to conduct inspections. They don’t go blind: they know firsthand the problems they cause every weekend. Seven Intervention Police (UIP) vans and just over forty Puma-30 riot police; Next to the dog unit vehicle; Others from the Group of Reaction Operations (GOR) and a team from the Immigration Brigade set off towards the bullring, which witnessed more brawls than Veronica’s socks.
At 2:15, riot police climbed the long stairs leading to the door of the Weekend nightclub, on the top floor of La Coverta in Leganes. “If I’ve Met You Before” by Carol Gee. A bad omen. In the neighboring building, the doormen do not hide their smiles as they search their customers: “Entry costs 20 euros, but the girls do not pay,” says the official. Young women are used as bait, which does not change.
Two plainclothes agents search for drugs among the young men’s possessions in the nightclub
Upstairs, he orders the agents to stop the music and turn on the lights. There are more than 200 young people, many of them sitting at small tables under a ceiling of blue balloons, with bottles of alcohol and shisha and in small groups. At least three birthdays are counted in different angles. “Gentlemen, we will conduct a search and tonight the building will not be opened again. “When they get identified, they abandon it,” warns one of the operation’s leaders. Dissatisfaction is common among customers, nearly 100% of whom are Latin American and younger. Most of them, with their bottles half full, start pouring alcohol into their glasses to filter it before throwing them out of there. There are some who take off their shirts and leave them on a chair, like someone who doesn’t want this thing. Then they will find out why.
And the show begins. The waiting list is organized, firstly, with those who hold an actual DNI or NIE. Immigration police officers sit at a high table to register one by one. They will spend hours verifying identities through the database, as well as basic information and judicial requirements. The riot police officer is responsible for asking each agent, before identifying him, if he has ever been arrested before. There are many who answer in the affirmative.
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“Yes, I was arrested for violent robbery. But it’s been a long time,” says one young man, with the unconvincing aesthetic of a gang member (gold necklaces, one-sided hat, tattoos covering half his neck, calf-height pants with back pockets…) with some arrogance. It shouldn’t have been that long ago. This is Oscar R.S., 19 years old and resident of Torrejon de Ardoz. He is a member of the Trinitarios criminal organization, one of the most active Latino gangs. At dawn on August 6, he was shot in the water park on Berlin Street. He went to hide in the loading dock of the On Plaza shopping center. He explained to police who responded that night that three gang members from another rival gang shot him and some friends twice while they were at a bank. One of the attackers was carrying a polomachite. Officers found a bullet casing nearby.
Among those identified is a Trinidadian who was shot dead in August in Torrejon de Ardoz.
The scene at the Weekend nightclub is repeated during the raid: a friend accompanying Oscar also realizes that he has been arrested for robbery with violence; More partygoers talk about their records for “fights”, “for public health”, “for driving without a licence”… until another gang member arrives, with a very broad attitude, who, after being asked if he is under arrest, answers: “Oh, a lot of times.” Before leaving, he takes a bottle of whiskey that is not his from a small table, hides it in the dark coat he holds in his hands and steals it. One agent told us this: “Don’t worry, they’ll take it away now.”
In fact, because after affiliations, each customer goes into the small space between the double access doors, where they are searched from top to bottom. The girls are forced to take off even their shoes, revealing large gaps in the socks they are wearing. You never know how the night is going to end, but maybe you didn’t expect it this way. “Purvi, let me take the glass,” says a young woman to a senior riot police officer, who shows great treatment and enormous patience throughout the inspection, but he makes one thing clear to her: “Porvi, no.” “We’ll agree,” he explodes in the girl’s face, reminding her of the respect he owes her.
Agents ask each person if they have ever been detained. Many respond positively.
Inside, in the room, Juan Carlos, a Spaniard of about thirty, his eyes wide, keeps protesting: “This is the third time this has happened to me!” Repeats over and over again. His impudence had him facing the wall with his hands raised and legs spread, about to be arrested. Once again, the patience of the police.
Conflict area
The roof of Leganés was for many years a hotbed of crime, especially juveniles.
550
These are the people who were identified during last Sunday’s operation
Drugs and gangs
The main target of these security measures for citizens are drugs, gangs and weapons
60
About sixteen officers participated in the raid, especially riot police.
The abandoned gray jacket held a secret: Two plainclothes agents found a bag containing Tusi, the misnamed pink cocaine, a powerful mixture of ecstasy with ketamine. At another table, where a birthday was being celebrated, they took a bag of marijuana from someone. At 3:30 a.m., it’s time for Vito (by Corleone), a playful springer who sniffs every corner of the building looking for more drugs, and also behind the two bars and bathrooms.
Dawn advances and the local police responsible for the administrative part of the work arrive. Two children who have just reached adulthood plead: “We spent almost a thousand euros on bottles of alcohol. Can’t we take them with us then? Rejection feels like a death sentence.