Madrid Police Struggle To Contain “Avalanche” Of Illegal Parties
Madrid´s municipal police have had another busy weekend in an attempt to curb the number of illegal parties being held in the capital.
Police broke up a total of 442 illegal parties, held in homes, tourist apartments and in closed establishments of whom 191 took place on Saturday night.
Under the present state of alarm measures social gatherings are prohibited and the police have asked for citizens “collaboration and responsibility.”
Madrid´s mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida had earlier called for organisers and attendees alike to “be people” and behave “like human beings”, saying that by going to illegal parties they were all “endangering others.”
In one incident police raided a premises in Villaverde, where a large party was in progress – complete with local DJ and no attempt to muffle the noise that could be heard in adjoining streets.
43 people were arrested and fined for breaking the midnight curfew and attending the illegal gathering before police boarded up the premises.
In another incident police raided a warehouse in Villa de Vallecas at around 10 pm on Saturday. Police arrested 45 people who were cought dancing, smoking and in some cases consuming narcotic substances. Police confiscated twelve grams of cocaine, 3 bags of hashish and 8 packets of marijuana.
In the centre of Madrid, police raided and evicted people from rented tourist apartments – one of which had 40 people inside at the invitation-only party. Police were alerted by neighbours who had complained about the noise and loud music.
In another an ambulance rushed a young woman to hospital after she fell from a fourth floor balcony trying to escape the police raid.
At the same party, police found a young mother with her newborn baby.
In the Plaza del 2 de Mayo in Malasaña police broke up a “botellon with hundreds of youngsters.
Police have broken up more than 4,000 illegal gatherings since the start of the pandemic and the trend has started to increase in the last months.
The mayor said “we cannot put a policeman behind every irresponsible person in the city” and stressed that police have limited poweres to ente people´s homes unless a crime has been reported or is being committed.
