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The security device deployed by the Security Forces for the NATO Summit, which begins on Tuesday in Madrid, is the largest in history and more than 10,000 agents participate. But that is only the deployment for its critical moment, which began this Monday and will continue until Thursday. Until reaching this last phase, there has been a very important work behind the Information services of the Police and the Civil Guard, as well as the National Intelligence Center to detect the arrival of hostile elements to the historic event and avert any threat. In addition, it has had the collaboration of the allied services that have reported the intentions of the respective indigenous radical groups.
At each NATO Summit, violent protest movements have always arisen in which anti-system elements participate, both from the country in which it is held and from others, who want to take advantage of the showcase that Madrid becomes the capital of the world during these days. With this experience, the Security Forces have designed a plan that, at least until today, according to highly reliable sources consulted by ABC, is working to full satisfaction.
“At the moment we are not aware of the presence in Madrid of a significant number of violent radicals«, Explain the sources consulted, who add that it is not true that an important group of them have concentrated in the capital, as has been reported by some media. For months, the Information Services of the Police and the Civil Guard have scoured social networks and the internet to detect the movements of these individuals. Thanks to this previous work, they are monitored, so it is more complicated for them to achieve their objectives.
An important role in this prevention work is carried out at the borders, where the passage of citizens to our country has been controlled in a special way for days. In this case, they are the superior headquarters affected, those bordering France and Portugal, which coordinate these devices that are giving good results. In fact, there have already been arrests, specifically until yesterday the 17th, only in La Junquera (Gerona). Legal claims weighed on several of them, others were arrested for false documents and also for favoring illegal immigration. So far they have not detected any of the “profiles” that the General Information Commissioner (CGI) warned about, and that they would have planned to travel to Spain to star in altercations during the summit.
“Of course, it cannot be 100 percent guaranteed that there will be no incidents involving these groups, but the police device is going to make it very difficult for these groups to act violent. At the moment, and until this Monday, we are calm«, maintain the sources consulted, who insist, however, that this does not mean that their guard is going to drop or that despite all the work that has been done all these months some radicals can act.
One of the critical moments could occur on Wednesday, since at eight in the afternoon the so-called Antirepressive Movement has called a protest in the Plaza de Tirso de Molina despite having been prohibited by the Government Delegation. However, it is a small group with little convening capacity and is controlled by the Information services.
This group has already begun to draw its particular network in order to prevent its members from being left unprotected. Therefore, they have spread the name of the lawyer, Alejandra Matamoros Alexandrova, regular in the lists of previous calls and in charge of defending, among others, the imprisoned rapper Pablo Hasel. “These days when Madrid is completely militarized, we will take to the streets to express our rejection of the NATO summit and the government that supports it. To do it safely, write down or memorize the name of the lawyer on duty, “they have specified. Her work will extend between June 24 and 29, throughout the “NATO Counter-Summit in Madrid”.
Outside our borders, and with the collaboration of allied services, special monitoring has been carried out on anarchist groups that operate in France, Greece and Italyfor being the closest to our country. They act under the Black Blocks brand, but the Security Forces know well how they act. They became known for the incidents they staged at the Lisbon Summit in 2010 and the Information services have long been monitoring squats and the so-called Squatted and Self-managed Social Centers not only in Madrid, but throughout Spain, to detect their presence.
Apart from all this, the National Police is in charge of the comprehensive protection of the airspace, both in the Ifema complex and throughout the city of Madrid, deploying for it its entire fleet of drones in different parts of the capital in surveillance and monitoring of events and institutional acts. The flight of drones will be completely prohibited during the celebration of the NATO Summit and will be controlled through the different fixed and portable detection and neutralization systems.
It must be insisted, therefore, that today the situation is under control and no worrying movements have been detected. Of course, everything can change in the next few hours and if that happens, the response for each scenario is also planned.
www.abc.es
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism