The Ministry of the Interior has ordered a reinforcement of special intensity of the prevention, protection and response measures provided for in the current Level 4 of activation of the Antiterrorist Prevention and Protection Plan before the imminent celebration of the Christmas holidays, a period characterised by an important and large participation and presence of citizens in all kinds of events and massive displacements throughout the national territory.
The decision was made this week in an extraordinary session to assess the terrorist threat chaired by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, in which it was concluded that high levels of risk of terrorist actions persist that advise keeping Level 4 of the Antiterrorist Prevention and Protection Plan, but it was agreed to reinforce the measures envisaged at that level to adjust it to the characteristics of this period at the end of the year.
The instruction issued this Wednesday by the Secretary of State for Security, Rafael Pérez, orders “a strengthening of the security devices and the capabilities of intelligence, control and anti-terrorist monitoring by the State Security Forces, as well as by the rest of the police forces and other institutions, agencies and operators, public or private, in matters of security, within the framework of their respective functional and territorial competencies and responsibilities”.
In this sense, the measures of special intensity during this specific period will be aimed at giving special vigilance and protection of places and spaces, means of transport, religious, leisure or recreational events in general, in which a high concentration of people can be expected, as well as the surveillance and protection of strategic objectives and critical infrastructures that are essential for the normal functioning of citizen activity.
The special intensification of the measures indicated in the instruction of the Secretary of State for Security will be applied throughout the national territory, will enter into force at 00:00 hours on December 21 and will extend until 24:00 hours on day 9 of the next month of January.
Government delegates in those autonomous communities that have their own police forces or units attached to the National Police will urgently transfer this instruction to the autonomous authorities and will convene, if necessary, the necessary information and coordination meetings to carry out the content of the Secretary of State’s instruction.
In addition, the Secretary of State for Security has sent this instruction to the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) so that it can be distributed among those responsible for the Local Police forces in order to incorporate their operational capacities and ensure the preventive objectives sought with the reinforcement of anti-terrorist measures.
Likewise, the Central Private Security Unit of the National Police will communicate these instructions to the private security companies so that they reinforce the services, procedures and collaboration measures corresponding to the current level of antiterrorist activation.
