The Mayor of Almuñécar, Trinidad Herrera, has just issued a municipal decree concerning ‘the appropriate use of beaches during the traditional celebration of San Juan.’
Basically, you cannot erect a tent or similar shelter before noon (twelve o’clock midday) on Saturday the 23rd – meaning that a Friday night overnight stay is banned. The whole circus must be backed up by 22.00h the next day, Sunday.
Temporary dance floors or any other arrangement of a similar nature are explicitly banned, together with electricity generators or furniture. Any kind of ‘commercial activity’ is also forbidden. In fact, not even the existing chiringuitos are allowed to instal external music systems.
Finally, as far as the decree goes, it states that when overnight stayers pack up their things, they are required to clean up their own mess.
The Commanding Officer of the Almuñécar Guardia Civil Post has stated that they will be organising extra patrols on the beaches, as well as road controls for vehicles. All told 60 policemen will be on duty, from checking the entrances to the town from the main road, to patrolling the beaches. They will also be on special alert within the town as the least honest elements of the community take the opportunity to make unofficial visits to houses, knowing that the occupants are on the beach.
Editorial comment: This rather strict stance this year is really the reaction to previous years where people have pushed the concept of San Juan to the limit, and beyond, turning the town’s beaches into bedouin cities, throbbing from one end to the other with dance music. Whereas, traditional, San Juan only consisted of one over-night stay, the celebrations spilled over into three, sometimes four days, and the rubbish left behind was atrocious.
If people hadn’t ‘taken the piss’ as they say in English, then there would be no need for these stringent measures. Those pictured above are just having fun without bothering anybody, which is what San Juan is all about.
(News: Almuñécar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)