The Ertzaintza has already begun to apply a plan to deal with the increase in crimes with bladed weapons that includes searches and controls at certain points
The increase in attacks with a knife in the Basque Country has opened the debate on the advisability of installing metal detectors in nightclubs, a possibility that the Basque Government is “analyzing carefully” and that hoteliers do not view with bad eyes, although they ask for legal certainty for do it.
The incident that occurred in the early hours of Sunday outside a nightclub in Vitoria, in which a young man already in prison used a knife to injure four people -one of them seriously-, has once again put the focus on the proliferation of this type of weapons, of which the Security Councilor, Josu Erkoreka, has already warned.
In fact, the Ertzaintza has already begun to apply a plan to deal with the increase in crimes involving bladed weapons that includes searches and controls at certain points to prevent these events, which occur above all on public roads and are concentrated in festive atmospheres between Friday and Sunday nights.
The debate on security in nightclubs was revived this Monday by the mayor of Vitorial, Gorka Urtaran, by asking for harsher punishments for those who carry knives and for measures to be studied such as discotheque security personnel being able to use metal detectors the entrance.
The glove has been picked up by the Basque Government, whose spokesman, Bingen Zupiria, has assured this Tuesday that the Executive “is seriously analyzing the possibility of implanting metal detectors in certain premises.”
However, before making any decision, “an analysis must be carried out to find out what the legal framework is, the powers of each institution and whether it is possible that the Basque Government will make that decision”.
The spokesman has stressed in any case that security in nightlife is not only the responsibility of the Ertzaintza and the local police, but also questions those responsible for private premises.
For their part, hoteliers have been “always in favor” of “everything that means implementing measures” that result in better security and responsible leisure, but they have called for “legal certainty” to install detectors or take other types of measures.
“That they clarify if it is legal or not and to what extent” a nightclub doorman who uses a bladed weapon is qualified to act, for example, the manager of the Bizkaia Hotel and Catering Association, Héctor Sánchez, told EFE, adding : “The first people interested in a quiet night are the restaurateurs”.
He is also in favor of improving security in nightlife venues Eneko Goia, mayor of San Sebastián, where the young Lukas Agirre died on Christmas Day morning near a nightclub after receiving several stab wounds.
“I share the concern about this issue”, said Goia, who believes that the improvement of security must involve the Police and the nightlife venues themselves, although he did not want to “go into detail” about whether they should have ” metal detectors”.