Record number of people evicted on a new night of drinking parties in Barcelona

BarcelonaAfter the end of the curfew, the number of people drinking and partying in the streets without keeping their distance is on the increase in Barcelona. Despite calls for caution from the Department of Health and the heads of the security forces, tonight the crowds of the previous night were repeated and even increased: if from Friday to Saturday the police evicted some 7,000 people, yesterday there were 9,055, a figure considerably higher than the 6,500 evicted on the first night without a state of alarm. The Ciutat Vella district and especially the beaches were once again the most crowded yesterday. On Sant Miquel beach alone, some 2,000 people were evicted in a single pass by the Mossos and the Guardia Urbana, and in this case it was decided to redirect those gathered in the direction of Passeig de Joan de Borbó along the seafront to prevent them from returning to the streets of Barceloneta. Two other points with large crowds - and a large presence of foreigners - were, once again, Passeig del Born and Passeig Lluís Companys, which were also cleared, and three premises were inspected for non-compliance with opening hours, according to the municipal report.

Faced with the repetition of crowds in the street, the Department of Health maintains a message of calm, and reiterates that those who break the health measures are a minority. On the subject of the drinking parties in Barcelona, the secretary general of the Department of Health, Marc Ramentol, defended on RAC1 that "to know if they have epidemiological repercussions we would have to consider whether this is a large majority behaviour" and added that the Ministry does not have this feeling.

The nightlife sector, in turn, is claiming that it is an orderly alternative to avoid this type of partying. The Catalan Federation of Associations of Catering and Music Activities (FECASARM) has expressed its "impotence and indignation" at the closure of nightlife venues and the limiting of restaurant opening hours to 11pm at the same time as "botellones and illegal parties continue to rise". In a statement, the association criticises the "night-time chaos" generated by these drinking parties throughout Catalonia while the "legal sector" remains closed. "Expanding the legal offer is the only feasible and safe alternative", they claim.