Up to 600 euros. This is the amount that fines for drinking on the street can reach. The Barcelona City Council measure came into force last week and aims to put an end to the so-called bottle — events where tens or hundreds of young people gather in squares, parks or beaches to drink alcohol at night. In just one week, the police have already fined more than 700 people and have managed to reduce complaints by almost 30%.
Previously, fines were €60 for minor offenses and €300 for more serious cases. With the new rules, the The fines are increased to 100 and 600 euros respectively, detailed the person in charge of security and prevention, of the Barcelona City Council, Albert Batlle, at a press conference this Monday. There is still another change: before the fines were reduced by 75% if they were paid within a maximum period of 30 days, but now this reduction is 50%.
However, fines of 600 euros are reserved for very exceptional cases that cause serious disturbances of public order, neighbours, vehicle traffic or the movement of people on the street – it will be at the discretion of each police officer to define whether it is an exceptional case or not, reads in the newspaper El País.
“The fines of 600 euros are for cases of serious disturbance in the daily life of citizens. We are talking about public order”, explained Albert Batlle.
In the week between August 2 and August 8, 747 people fined for minor offenses and had to pay amounts of up to 100 euros – an average of more than 120 daily complaints – revealed Pedro Velázquez, head of the Barcelona Urban Guard, at the same press conference.
Hundreds of people gathered on the beach of Barceloneta, on May 15, 2021
Bottles are not a new phenomenon in Spain, but they have become more frequent and the number of participants has increased in the last two summers, due to the Restrictions to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
With the bars limited hours or, at a certain time, the prohibition to open them, thousands of young people looked for other options to have fun and began to meet from Thursday to Sunday to drink alcohol in the street.
The concentrations, which also attracted French tourists and people from the north of Spain, took place especially on Barceloneta beach and in the streets of the historic center of Barcelona.
However, the bottles were not reduced even after the end of the restrictions on nightlife spaces. However, the increase in the value of the fines has already had results. In the first week of August and compared to the same period last year, there were around least two thousand calls to 112, related to street parties — a reduction of 27%.
Source: Observadora
