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SOS Racismo de Catalunia put spotlight on Barcelona’s Guardia Urbana.
SOS Racismo de Catalunia warned yesterday, during the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, of an increased number of complaints, which reached their offices during 2005, relating to attacks and discrimination of racist nature-affecting individuals. The difference from previous years was that there was an upsurge in violence associated with the discrimination, which occurred. The data came to light during a presentation by SOS Racismo de Catalunia of their annual report. During 2005, a total of 151 complaints were received at their offices, 15% more than that for 2004, when 131 complaints were registered. The highest number of complaints concerned attacks and abuses carried out by agents working for public safety organizations: such complaints represented nearly a quarter of all those received. The second highest related to services discrimination, some 20% of the total. SOS Racismo spokesperson, said that the item to stand out most from the 2005 report was the increase in the number of complaints of violence received from individuals, which increased from 20 to 27 and represented 18% of the total. The public safety organizations, which received the most complaints, were the Nacional de Policia and the Guardia Urbana de Barcelona, each representing 38% of all complaints. Citizen complaints against the Guardia Civil accounted for 14% of the total, and the Mossos d'Esquadra 8%.
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