Police more than three times as likely to stop a foreigner than a Spaniard, SOS Racisme complains

For every Spanish national that was stopped and identified by police in Catalonia in 2021, 3.48 foreigners were according to SOS Racisme, an NGO that helps victims of racist discrimination.

In the group's latest report, '0.2 Surveillance: An analysis of data on identifications by ethnic-racial profile', which was presented to the press on Wednesday morning in Barcelona, they describe how 40% of all people who were stopped and identified by police in the Catalan capital, as well as the Tarragona and Girona areas, were foreign nationals. 

People were stopped and IDed a total of 602,387 times last year, of which Spanish nationals were involved in 359,867 cases. 

In Catalonia, however, only 16% of the population is foreign - 21% in Barcelona - according to the IDESCAT statistics institute, which is why SOS Racisme argues that non-Spaniards are disproportionately targeted by police. 

"There is a discriminatory bias that is on the rise based on ethnic and racial profiles and people appearing foreign," the group warns, explaining that in places such as Barcelona, where there are more immigrants than in places such as Tarragona, more of them will be stopped by police. 

The NGO also noted a substantial spike in incidents during lockdown and throughout the pandemic due to Covid restrictions, especially mobility ones. 

SOS Racisme complains that racial profiling is "a standard criterion by which police control identities" and because of this they have urged authorities to put an end to "discriminatory" practices that "criminalize" people of color.