BARCELONA (Reuters) -Beaches were crowded across Catalonia on Saturday, as good spring weather attracted applicants despite government warnings to avoid breaching COVID-19 restrictions.
In Barcelona, Tarragona and other popular cities on the northeast coast of the Spanish region, crowds gathered on the beaches, some lacking masks or ignoring social distancing.
On a popular beach near the center of Barcelona, dozens of partygoers had danced on Friday, some transgression rules designed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, police said on Saturday.
The impromptu party took place on Barceloneta beach and police said they had warned partygoers that they were not complying with health regulations.
“Barcelona is the perfect place to party, to drink, but that’s a big problem (the police) stop having fun,” said a British partygoer who only put his first name Liam, 32, and that he was wearing a mask, he told Reuters.
Elsewhere, police stormed an illegal party on Friday in a bar in Sant Feliu de Llobregat, near Barcelona, and fined 33 people for breaching COVID-19 restrictions, tweeted to the Mossos d’Escuadra, the Catalan regional police.
Meetings of more than six people in public areas are banned in Catalonia and violators can receive fines of 300 to 600 euros ($ 350 to $ 700), police said.
“Our agents inform people where there are large groups of people who violate the restrictions and sometimes, if they do not wear masks or walk away, they can receive fines,” said a spokesman for the Catalan regional police. He did not say if anyone had been fined for the Barceloneta party.
Miquel Samper, Minister of the Interior of the Generalitat de Catalunya, said on Saturday on RAC1 radio that people should wear masks if they mix with others on the beach, but they do not need to do so if they sunbathe or swim in the sun. sea, a different orientation from national legislation.
Catalonia is one of several Spanish regions challenging a law introduced on Wednesday that requires people to wear outdoor masks, regardless of whether the safety distance of 1.5 meters is observed.
After criticizing, the Spanish government has said that the mask law would be revised, but has not said when any revision would be made.
($ 1 = $ 0.8502)
Report by Graham Keeley Written by David Holmes