Some 3,300 members of the National Police, Civil Guard, General Directorate of Traffic and Civil Protection, as well as 4 helicopters, 6 drones and about 300 cameras, among other technical means, will ensure citizen security and traffic management during the days of pilgrimage to the village of El Rocío and on the way back in the framework of the device ‘Rocío Seguro 2023’, whose data has been presented today by the delegate of the Government of Spain in Andalusia, Pedro Fernández, at the meeting held in Huelva.
The meeting was attended by, in addition to the deputy delegate in charge of the Government in Seville, Isabel Mayo, and the deputy delegate in Huelva, Manuela Parralo, the chief Superior Commissioner of Police of Western Andalusia, Andrés Martín Garrido; the Brigadier General of the 4th Zone of the Civil Guard, Alfonso Rodríguez Castillo; the coordinator of the General Directorate of Traffic for Andalusia, Ceuta and Melilla and provincial head of Traffic of Seville, Ana Luz Jiménez; as well as the head of the local Monte María. To all of them, Pedro Fernández thanked them for their “collaboration and good work so that this pilgrimage, which is expected to move a million pilgrims, develops satisfactorily both on the way back and on the way back”.
In this sense, he mentioned the 127 filial brotherhoods, the 43 non-filial ones and the 8 associations “that will come to this meeting point from all corners of Andalusia, especially from Seville, Huelva and Cadiz, but also, to a lesser extent, from other provinces, such as Córdoba”. Precisely today, he pointed out, “the Road Plan of the province of Cordoba is activated, which will be followed by that of Seville, Cadiz and Huelva, with the aim of ensuring the passage of the pilgrims to the village and the way back”. All will be disabled on June 2nd.
To the brotherhoods, he continued, “are added the 316,731 short and long trips that Traffic foresees to the village and all this within the framework of an electoral appointment, on Sunday, May 28, which also has its special device, and the forecast of high temperatures, which will cause displacements to the coast”.
To guarantee “the smooth running of the pilgrimage and the enjoyment of the pilgrims”, explained Fernández, the Rocío Seguro 2023 Plan will have 2,500 Civil Guard troops –belonging to a total of 16 specialties, among which are Citizen Security, Investigation, Seprona, GREIM Mountain, Underwater Operations, Air Service and Traffic Sector–, while the National Police Force will activate 496 troops from the four police stations of Huelva, Seville, Cadiz and Córdoba.
From the DGT there will be 113 troops belonging to the Southwest Control Center, air personnel and road operators. Precisely as a novelty this year, a detour has been established for tractors and strollers with the aim of speeding up and decongesting the Raya road, which is expected to affect about 1,200 tractors that will run along Freseros and Tarajales roads.
Among all, the technical means, in addition to the helicopters, drones and cameras, will add 1,083 vehicles, 80 troops on horseback and 4 naval means.
Violet dots
As a novelty, this year the Civil Guard has installed two violet points, active 24 hours, from which it will attend, inform and act in cases of victims of male violence. One of them will be located inside the village and another in Villamanrique de la Condesa (Seville). They are joined by the one who will also open the National Police in Sanlúcar de Barrameda.
The device is completed by 244 data collection stations, 282 variable message boards, 15 meteorological stations, their own high-speed telecommunications and satellite networks, the Alertcops app and ES Alert, a system promoted by the Government of Spain with funding from the Recovery Plan, which is part of the National Alert Network and which became operational throughout the national territory in February.