Barcelona Launches Metro Knife Crackdown After Attacks

Barcelona is dealing with two things at once. A short, ugly burst of stabbings shook public confidence, and the police response is now suddenly much more visible. That response is the Mossos d’Esquadra expanding knife checks around metro stations, parks, plazas, and other high-footfall areas under what local coverage identifies as Plan Daga. The point is simple — take blades off the street fast, and make people feel the city is under tighter control. (theolivepress.es) ### What changed this week? What changed is the tempo. After a 72-hour stretch with seven knife attacks, two deaths, and seven injuries in the Barcelona metropolitan area, Catalan police widened stop-and-search operations in places where people move in crowds or gather late — public transport exits, leisure zones, and parks. The operation was framed as an intensified anti-knife push ahead of the summer season, when Barcelona gets even busier. (theolivepress.es) ### What were the attacks? The weekend cases were not one single spree. They were a cluster of separate incidents that landed almost on top of each other. One of the deaths was a 42-year-old Chinese woman stabbed in broad daylight in Esplugues de Llobregat. Another was a man killed in Barcelona’s Raval district, where a minor was later detained. Local reporting also pointed to other stabbings around Plaça Catalunya and the Feria de Abril area near the Forum. (theolivepress.es) ### What is Plan Daga? Basically, Plan Daga is the Mossos’ knife-seizure operation. Officers focus on places where carrying a blade is more likely to turn into a robbery, a gang clash, or a sudden street fight. That means bag checks, searches, identity checks, and patrols in transit nodes and public spaces. This is not brand-new policy invented this week — it is an intensified use of an existing anti-knife framework. (theolivepress.es) ### Why the metro? Because the metro is where different risks overlap. It is crowded, fast-moving, and hard to read in real time. It also links neighborhoods where rival groups can converge quickly. In April, officers were already running special controls in met(theolivepress.es)a victim with severe hand injuries. (lavanguardia.com) ### Is this mainly about gangs? Partly, yes — but not only gangs. Recent police operations around Barcelona have tied some knife incidents to youth gangs, including groups linked in local reporting to Mara 18. But the wider police concern is broader than that. The same transport spaces and nightlife areas also draw repeat(lavanguardia.com)hs. (lavanguardia.com) ### Are knife crimes actually rising? Here is the awkward part: officials say the first quarter of 2026 showed a drop in recorded knife crime — from 1,140 incidents to 780, a decline of 31.5%. Police also say they seize 500 to 600 bladed weapons a month. So the issue is not just raw trendlines. It is concentration and visibility. A few highly public attacks in a few days can overwhelm reassuring statistics fast. (theolivepress.es) ### So what is the real goal? The real goal is disruption. If officers confiscate knives before a confrontation starts, they lower the odds that a theft, argument, or gang encounter turns lethal. But there is a second goal too — reassurance. Barcelona depends heavily on public space, transit, and tourism. When people start feeling that the metro or the street is unpredictable, the political pressure rises immediately. (theolivepress.es) ### Bottom line? This is Barcelona trying to get ahead of a fear spiral. The city had a brutal weekend, and the Mossos answered with a more aggressive visible-policing strategy in exactly the places where anxiety spreads fastest — the metro, parks, and nightlife corridors. Whether that works will depend on more than searches. But for now, the message is blunt: if you are carrying a knife in Barcelona, police want to find you before you use it. (theolivepress.es)