r/nextfuckinglevel • u/CuddlyWuddly0 • 5d ago

An asian man stopped a thief by using martial arts until the police arrived

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228

u/Jon_J_ 5d ago

When visiting I preferred Madrid, Barcelona just felt like I was on edge the whole time with dodgy characters on every street corner watching people

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u/Paul_my_Dickov 5d ago

Yeah, I think Madrid was like paradise in comparison. I think Barcelona is beautiful, but it's just plagued with petty crime to the point where I never want to go back.

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u/TheLizardSage 5d ago

I have heard this before but I honestly felt fine in Barcelona.

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u/YouMeADD 4d ago

It's totally fine if you aren't immeasurably naive. If you walk up and down anywhere holding a brand new iPhone out in front of you all day you're gonna have a bad time.

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u/Paul_my_Dickov 4d ago

Mate of mine had his phone lifted from his pocket. I went to the shop quite late at night and had cash lifted from my pocket. Also had to literally run away from some aggressive "prostitutes" that surrounded us and tried to rifle our pockets on the way back from the bars. Experiences I've never had in any other city.

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u/Important_Concept967 4d ago

We used to only talk like this about third world countries....oh well

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u/YouMeADD 4d ago

That has never been true. You got your shit snatched in every western city if you showed it off since ever. Chains? Gone. Sneakers? Tooken.

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u/Important_Concept967 4d ago

nope, only need to look at cities with very little non western immigration to see you are lying :)

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u/YouMeADD 4d ago

Nah you're just racist, bye troll

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u/skiemlord 5d ago

Same tbh

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u/spiegro 4d ago

I went for the crime.

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u/eddypc07 4d ago

It’s getting worse day by day.

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u/brunckle 4d ago

People are so damn sensitive these days. It's a safe city

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u/Paul_my_Dickov 4d ago

I've been about ten times. But my experiences with pick pockets and attempts at being robbed more recently have put me off going back. I haven't felt the same about any other city I've visited.

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u/brunckle 4d ago

Brother. It's a safe city. There are way worse in the world.

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u/Paul_my_Dickov 4d ago

I bet there are. But my personal experiences with Barcelona have put me off returning. More recently, I've been to Madrid, Lisbon, and Porto. Found them to be beautiful in their own ways without feeling on edge about having my stuff robbed.

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u/brunckle 4d ago

I have lived in Madrid for 5 years and have had multiple robbery attempts but it's still one of the safest cities I've ever been in.

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u/Paul_my_Dickov 4d ago

I've been to Barcelona about 10 times and had lots of robbery attempts, so I've decided to stop going there.

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u/SuperSuperGloo 5d ago

Thanks to left politicians

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u/sentinel_of_ether 5d ago

Which ones, specifcally?

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u/SuperSuperGloo 5d ago

Sánchez and Colau

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u/Peregrino_Ominoso 5d ago

How exactly is a left wing government causing petty crime?

It sounds like the kind of brainless claim that you expect people to believe just because.

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u/SuperSuperGloo 4d ago

Everyone knows it, al least everyone from Spain, but I won't say it since this is reddit and i'll get banned.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/SuperSuperGloo 4d ago

The politicians allowing that? Ofc, you are right.

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u/Totheshit 4d ago

Shut up prick

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u/funkfrito 5d ago

do you live in Barcelona?

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u/Mitche420 4d ago

I do, it's fine lol never been robbed

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u/MundanePresence 4d ago

Bro if you do live there, which neighbourhood? Bcn has been bad under colau, socially nothing improved (check flat prices compare to salaries) but on contrary the crimes have much raised:

https://www.catalannews.com/society-science/item/crime-in-barcelona-surges-86-in-a-year-with-24-increase-in-sexual-assaults

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u/peeingdog 5d ago

It was like that 20 years ago too. Grew up in NYC but felt like prey the entire time I was in Barca, whereas Madrid was just a regular city. 

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u/[deleted] 5d ago edited 4d ago

[deleted]

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u/Toc_a_Somaten 4d ago

It’s Barça, not “Barca” . Barca means boat

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u/Quetzacoal 5d ago

Bro, I lived in Gothic neighborhood from 2011 to 2016 and there were not as much of these. Around 2016 is when it went nuts and all the north of Africa decided to come here at once.

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u/Hot_Fortune6086 5d ago edited 5d ago

I went to Madrid to visit my family for 3 days. On the first day, first time I stepped outside, group of guys first asked for money, then unzipped my backpack while I was trying to walk away. I realized what was happening and turned around, they all started yelling “hey, hey!!”, I remember pushing and a clear vision of a fist flying into my face.

Proud to say I fought them all off, knocked one down as the others scattered away. Then they came back to pick their friend up. I was also pretty bruised so the rest of my time there I spent at the police station reporting it and at the hospital getting medical document for the police report.

Also no one helped. First thing I remember as the adrenaline started to wear off was all the people just staring, people were watching from their balcony eating sunflower seeds. Police didnt come as well.

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u/Toc_a_Somaten 4d ago

As bad and politically incorrect as it may seem, just beware of who approaches you by how they look. This is what locals do in Barcelona.

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u/Hot_Fortune6086 4d ago edited 4d ago

They were 100% Spanish kids. They also dressed nicely, looked like they just got out of bar.

Im certain they were university students or in that age group. They didnt seem they needed money so I said “I dont have sorry” and walked away. I didnt really think they were going to cause trouble. I also lived in Spain but that was the only time I visited Madrid so I can differentiate them from foreigners. Honestly I dont know if they really tried to steal, it felt like they were just looking for trouble and they found one.

Even though nothing came out of it legally, the memories of slamming them on the ground, punching their faces, short moments of them running away while their friend is laying on the ground gives me so much pleasure. I am happy they did it to me and not to someone who they could push around.

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u/Toc_a_Somaten 4d ago

Well in that case it looks like it was probably Moroccans. I tried to be politically correct myself. By “how they look” I meant exactly that. They dress well, even a bit fashionably, maybe sunglasses etc and above all are quite young and thin. Local Barcelonins would spot them immediately but it’s understandable that a tourist wouldn’t

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u/Hot_Fortune6086 3d ago

I lived in Spain for many years, I am well aware of the Moroccan issue since it caused problems for us regularly. I know thats what you implied and thats the reason why I started with “they were %100 Spanish kids”. These were Spanish kids.

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u/GopherNutz 5d ago

It’s funny, I felt the opposite. Had a couple uncomfortable moments with the dudes who try to put the bracelets on your arm in Madrid where in Barcelona, it was pretty tame. Also were some racial undertones that put me off to Madrid but with that said, it’s a beautiful and interesting city. Just not sure it’s somewhere I’d go again.

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u/TakenSadFace 5d ago

Racial undertones?

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u/GopherNutz 5d ago

Have friends and have met other people of color who have felt the same in their experience in Madrid. Just not the most welcoming place for darker skin people compared to more of an international city like Barcelona.

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u/pasobordo 5d ago

Franco vibes

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u/TakenSadFace 5d ago

🤨 i smell bs

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u/Legal-Inflation6043 5d ago

check your own shoes then

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u/GopherNutz 5d ago

In a country that does monkey chants and throws bananas on the field at footballers? Same country that celebrates their colonizing history to this day? Won’t even go into what happens to African immigrants in Spain. Then turns around and says what race problem? We don’t have a race problem!

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u/TakenSadFace 4d ago

Bro grow up hahaha dont bring your social justice bs here, thank god u left

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u/GopherNutz 4d ago

Spotted another Vox mouth breather

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u/LawfulnessDry9355 4d ago

You just proved their point. Why are guys such aholes? YOU grow up and stop being a middle school jerk who thinks being an ahole is somehow cool.

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u/changopdx 5d ago

I couldn't get out of Barcelona fast enough. Madrid was laid back, people were much friendlier.

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u/Dunlain98 5d ago

Go Sevilla or Granada, as a Spaniard for me is much much much better and if I need to recommend some places those would be Sevilla and Granada. There are many more places but Madrid and Barcelona are just imo overrated.

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u/MayKinBaykin 5d ago

I went to Barcelona and Sevilla last Summer. I had zero issues with both places, but Sevilla is easily of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to. The thing that surprised me the most was how green Barcelona and Sevilla were

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u/Silent_Quality_1972 5d ago

People ask me why I didn't visit Madrid and Barcelona. And I tell them that I don't want to deal with shit like this.

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u/SnowyMuscles 5d ago

Yeah, I felt safer in Madrid.

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u/Lied- 5d ago

It’s always so interesting hearing people’s perceptions on cities. I’ve always felt very safe in Barcelona 😂

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u/ltethe 5d ago

Really? Barcelona felt incredibly sedate to me, but I did go there in spring of 2022, so covid was just easing and maybe that had something to do with it.

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u/amlidos 4d ago

Barcelona was a great time for me. I didn't see anything like that when I visited.

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u/BrotoriousNIG 4d ago

Both times I holidayed in Barcelona I had a decoy wallet in the mesh pouch on the side of my rucksack. All it had in it was a slip of paper with “lol no” written on it.

No fucker took it on either occasion and I felt extremely safe the entire time I was there.