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Barcelona unveiled new cameras in Barceloneta during Sant Joan
Barcelona experienced the night of Sant Joan with an unprecedented strengthening of surveillance along the seafront. The new cameras installed at the entrances to Barceloneta beaches and the central coast were operational during one of the year’s busiest early mornings.
In total, the City Council activated 11 video-surveillance cameras between Plaça del Mar and the area around Trelawny Street. The devices do not point directly at the bathing area, but at access routes and entry points to the beaches, where thousands of people gather for hours every Sant Joan.
The measure formed part of the special security operation deployed for the festival eve. Guardia Urbana, Mossos d’Esquadra, Bombers de Barcelona, health services, cleaning crews, information staff and reinforced public transport worked throughout the night to manage crowds, incidents and staggered departures from the seafront.
La Barceloneta was once again one of the celebration’s most sensitive points. Dinners on the sand, music, firecrackers and groups that extended the night until the early hours filled the beach access routes and made constant surveillance in the area necessary.
The cameras are intended as a preventive and evidentiary tool. Their function is to help detect risk situations, improve the police response and facilitate investigation if offences or disturbances occur in an area where the concentration of people complicates direct intervention.
Video surveillance was combined with other technological resources, such as drones to monitor crowds and conflict points along the seafront. The image of Sant Joan in Barcelona no longer depends only on foot patrols and emergency services: it increasingly incorporates more real-time control tools.
In the early morning, the priority became clearing the sand and intensive cleaning. As every year, municipal teams had to remove food remains, bottles, plastics, ashes and pyrotechnic material to return the beaches to normal use during the public holiday.
The metro operated continuously overnight, making it easier for those who went to the seafront without a car to leave. Line 4 was again one of the most used because of its direct connection with La Barceloneta, Bogatell and other points along the waterfront.
The debut of the cameras sends a clear signal about how Barcelona manages its major popular nights. Sant Joan remains a festival of beach, fire and summer, but the city faces it with ever more technology, surveillance and coordination to balance celebration, safety and coexistence.