The first morning without a state of alarm has been lived in many parts of Spain as a great party, a New Year's Eve early in May with bottles in the main squares, in many cases loudly and without security measures. And that's despite the fact that the data is still worrying. Although the incidence in Spain began to fall this week, the trend is still very weak, after another two weeks of stagnation. On Friday, the last day with official data, there were an average of 198 cases per 100,000 inhabitants throughout the country in the last 14 days, which according to the semaphore of the Ministry of Health (among other indicators) represents a “high risk”. And five autonomous communities (Madrid, Catalonia, Navarra, Aragon and the Basque Country, in addition to Melilla) exceed 250, which is equivalent to “very high”.In the streets those data were not remembered.
In Madrid, the party took over the Puerta del Sol and the police made 450 interventions; in Barcelona, 6,500 people from different places were evicted. The night leaves 16 people detained in Palma and four National Police officers injured of varying degrees in an unauthorized rally against the curfew. There have been no notable incidents in Madrid, Valladolid, Salamanca, the Basque capitals or Seville, but there have been scenes that show the lack of control and distance against the virus. "They are unfortunate images", said this Sunday the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida.
The end of the restrictions in the Spanish capital had the Puerta del Sol as one of its settings. It is the most emblematic square on the night of December 31. On this occasion, instead of grapes, there were beer cans. Several hundred people gathered there to celebrate in style the burial of the curfew although Madrid is still under the heavy slab of a cumulative incidence of 317 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days. That is high risk.
The lateros had customers overflowing with so many dry throats from singing and screaming.
The most chanted, without a doubt, “Freedom!”.
Several dozen Municipal Police officers worked to sweep the streets of citizens from eleven o'clock at night.
At that time, the curfew was imposed for the last time and bars and restaurants had to be closed.
"Now the time for the bottles begins," said the driver of a municipal patrol car at the access to Sol from Calle del Correo.
He did not foresee what was coming.
"This is our bastion", he justified next to the building of the Presidency of the Community assuming that it was not going to get out of hand.
However, in Sol there was a party but no riots.
Photogallery: The end of the state of alarm in Spain
End of the state of alarm: Puerta del Sol recovers New Year's Eve stolen shouting “Freedom!
The National Police confirmed this Sunday that there have been no serious incidents in the capital of Spain.
Neither detained, nor police charges, nor injured.
The only notable thing happened in a bar in the Chamberí neighborhood, where there were about 20 people inside and, when the agents tried to enter, the owner closed the door.
"They have thrown glasses at the officers and kicked them several times," says the police report.
Customers have taken advantage of that moment to exit through a back door.
The Municipal Police, for its part, assures that it still does not have statistics on the incidents that occurred during the night.
The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, describes as "regrettable" the images of Madrid after the end of the curfew.PHOTO: JESÚS HELLÍN / EP | VIDEO: EP
"Freedom does not consist in breaking the rules," said the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida.
“These are actions that the City Council has to condemn.
You have to remember that bottles are not allowed ”, he stressed.
He explained that an additional device was put in place to reinforce 200 municipal police officers and thanked the Government Delegation for their collaboration.
“The most problematic was in the Plaza del Dos de Mayo, also in the vicinity of the Forensic Anatomical Institute and the Wanda Metropolitano.
We are talking about more than 450 interventions that took place yesterday by the Municipal Police in the city of Madrid ”, Martinez-Almeida has shelled.
Celebration of the first without a curfew on the Paseo de la Barceloneta, in Barcelona.
JUAN BARBOSA
In Barcelona, the noise arrived after a few minutes after midnight on the Barceloneta promenade. The night was just as the City Council had planned: large bottles, crowds, music, dances and excesses in the open air despite the efforts of the Urban Guard, which had a special reinforcement with a 30% increase in its service. The police spent the first hours of the night dispersing the large groups. "Maximum six people, please," they asked. His mission was impossible from the beginning. The parties that took place in different parts of the city were like a monster with a thousand heads. They regenerated each time they spread them.
The security forces dispersed the macro-party that originated on the beach twice, and twice it was celebrated again.
The young people barely complained about the advance of the police cordons.
They left with their glass in hand, and returned shortly after.
Some of them pulled the Eskorbuto classic "A lot of police, little fun", although
Bella Ciao
had more pull
,
in a timid anti-police resistance mode.
An end of the year in May in Barcelona
The Barcelona City Council reported this Sunday that the Guardia Urbana, in collaboration with the Mossos d'Esquadra, has evicted about 6,500 people from 31 different areas of the city this morning. The large concentrations took place in places such as the squares of the Gràcia neighborhood, Arc de Triomf and the Bogatell beach. The City Council's Security Lieutenant, Albert Batlle, has declared on the radio that "the images can be worrying because they are acts of absolute irresponsibility" and has called for prudence.
In Palma, early Sunday morning has left 16 people detained, including a minor, and four National Police officers injured of varying degrees after an unauthorized concentration against curfew, vaccines and masks caused riots in the center of the capital. Around 300 people, according to the police, gathered illegally after eleven at night in the Plaza de España shouting slogans against the curfew and the vaccination campaign. Despite calls from the police to break up the meeting, they threw cobblestones, bottles and stones at the agents who were deployed in the area. Finally, the police charged the protesters and there was numerous damage to urban furniture, in the surrounding streets and in vehicles parked in the area.Four officers were injured of varying degrees. The 15 arrested - except the minor - will go to court on Sunday afternoon in the guard court of the Balearic capital.
The Even disco room in Seville opened for the first time until 2.00 after the end of the state of alarm. PACO PUENTES
In Seville, people have packed the terraces, although without notable incidents and without having transpired arrests. In the Andalusian capital, the party lasted beyond midnight, the closing time of the bars, because from that moment and until two in the morning the discos and bars with a music license could open, although with the Same capacity restrictions as any other bar. The slopes were not open. In the Alameda de Hércules, in the center of the city, the people who arrived from early in the afternoon - following the tradition of the
afternoon
in the
nightstands
that has been implanted during the curfew - broke into applause at 23.00 to celebrate the end of the restrictions. A group of Italians began to sing the
Bella Ciao
accompanied by a brass band.
The Plaza Mayor of Salamanca during the early hours of Sunday, after the end of the state of alarm.
JM García / EFE
In Castilla y León, Salamanca has been the capital with the most warnings to the 112 emergency number, with almost fifty calls due to noise and a dozen due to bottles or agglomerations without a safety distance.
At midnight, about half a thousand people gathered in the main square of the capital and from there they moved the party to various areas of the city, especially to the Roman Bridge.
Five minutes after midnight on Sunday, a group of young people were drinking a few beers in a less crowded area of Valladolid. The symbolism of enjoying "freedom" from the first minute pushed them down to the street. "It's wrong, we know, yes," admits one of them with her dog
Nebu
. The group, which requests anonymity, assumes that they have done "wrong things", but insist that they needed that fun to get out of the boredom of the restrictions. Their plan was to have a drink and go home, but they didn't rule out going to an
after party
afterwards.
Several groups of kids walk towards the Moreras area, a huge park next to the Pisuerga river that serves as a stage for large bottles.
The influx is growing while reggaeton sounds and bottles are seen, with their carriers outside the police who patrol but, for the moment, they do not act.
Nestor and David, 16, celebrate the feeling that "finally there is no rush" and can leave without stress.
People come to Moreras even by bicycle.
French Hugo Titerac, 21, hopes to be able to enjoy his Erasmus in Valladolid, a city that he “likes very much” but has lived within restrictions.
"Last month I worked a lot and I want to disconnect now," he says with a beer in hand.
"I want to finally have a good time."
A group of young people is concentrated in the port of San Sebastián during the early hours of this Sunday.
Javier Hernandez
Euskadi has celebrated the new stage with multiple street parties and celebrations in the three Basque capitals and many municipalities, although without notable incidents, as confirmed by the Ertzaintza. In Vitoria and Bilbao, hundreds of young people gathered at midnight in the downtown area and fired some rockets. Several punctual devices of the Basque police prevented massive bottles from being held in municipalities like Getxo. There were also no notable traffic jams on the highway that connects Bilbao and Cantabria, although the traffic until two in the morning was dense at times. Thousands of Biscayan have second residences in towns such as Castro Urdiales or Noja.
Information prepared by:
Luis de Vega, Eva Sáiz, Lucía Bohórquez, Juan Navarro, Bernat Coll, Pedro Gorospe
and
Berta Ferrero.
