Three agents of the Civil Guard were attacked by a passenger while trying to evict him from a plane at the Lanzarote airport, as made public by the Spanish Association of Civil Guards (AEGC).
"Attacks like the ones suffered by our colleagues are becoming very common both in our islands and throughout the country. Attacks that ultimately amount to nothing because, as we denounce from AEGC, as long as they do not consider us authority, which leads to a hardening of the penalty, and they continue to consider us agents of the authority, the attacks will continue to increase", the association laments.
"In this last aggression, three colleagues have had to go to the hospital and have now taken leave of absence for service at the Lanzarote airport. This will mean that the already scarce troops of this unit will be even more diminished and just when the summer campaign begins, in which the island expects to receive about 9 million travelers", he warns.
They denounce the lack of personnel, especially for the summer
Likewise, the association wanted to remember the "lack of personnel" suffered by the island's airport, which "occupies number 12 in the ranking in passenger movement, with two flight terminals in addition to the cargo area."
"As a civil guard does not have the gift of ubiquity, the current staff cannot cover the minimum and indispensable services of the airport." Therefore, the AEGC demands an "update of the staff in reference to the users of the airport", since they also fear that this situation will occur more frequently now that the summer campaign begins.
"With the arrival of summer, the staff will be reduced by 33% due to vacation periods, which will overload the agents who remain giving the service," they explain. "Until now it has operated below 35% as a result of the pandemic, but the new situation, with open borders and total freedom of movement, the island expects to recover the number of visitors."
They also complain that "no one has thought of reinforcing the service, even with agents from outside", despite the fact that the island expects to receive "about 9 million travelers" in the months of July and August.