The Barcelona bar where Gerard Piqué and Clara Chia met has been sealed off (with two workers inside).

BarcelonaTusset Street in Barcelona witnessed a surreal scene this Wednesday. The city council's sealing of the La Traviesa bar for repeated license violations led to an unbelievable situation, with two employees trapped inside for hours, afraid to leave for fear of breaking the seal. This was the culmination of a long-standing conflict between the city council and La Traviesa. Behind the conflict, as is so often the case, lies the actual use of the premises. City officials explain that the owners of La Traviesa—which became famous as the place where Clara Chía and Gerard Piqué met—use the establishment as a nightclub despite only having a bar license. The owner, Luca Tamborra, denies this and accuses the city council of sanctioning him simply because customers sometimes stand instead of sitting.

The disagreement culminated this Wednesday in the third closure of the premises, this time for ninety days, for repeated violations of regulations. However, the sanction turned out to be quite bizarre because, when the Guardia Urbana (Barcelona's municipal police) sealed the premises with the traditional stickers, they did so without realizing that there were two people working inside, with the shutters down. While municipal sources claim that the officers repeatedly knocked on the shutters without receiving a response before sealing the premises, the workers trapped inside maintain that they heard no warning.

Closed for four hours

Tamborra also reports that they received official notification of the sanction this Wednesday at 1 p.m., but that the premises had been sealed two hours earlier, so they were unable to warn the workers beforehand. This led to a crisis: the owners were hesitant to break the seal to let the staff out, fearing it might result in further penalties. It wasn't until 2:30 p.m. that, in the presence of a pair of officers from the Guardia Urbana (municipal police), both workers—who reported suffering from anxiety after being locked inside for nearly four hours—finally left the premises. Municipal sources emphasize that police presence was not required to open or close the establishment, as the seal prohibits any activity—in this case, operating as a bar—for ninety days, but that the workers can enter and leave the premises as they wish to carry out their work.