During the Motril fiestas the Town Hall announced that there would be little tolerance of drinking on the streets.

Councillor for Citizen Safety, María Ángeles Escámez, pointed out that the restrictions on drinking in the streets has been in force since April, in compliance with a Andalusian-wide law governing leisure activities in open public spaces.

This policy came into being in order to prevent botellones (spontaneous, open-air parties), where literally hundreds of young people would gather, bringing their own drinks bought from supermarkets, and party the night away, leaving the area covered in empty bottles, glasses, litter in general, as well as the stench of human urine.

The Town Hall had gone so far as to provide an area next to the public swimming pool for such activities, but the experiment failed with the result that it is also forbidden to drink there.

Individuals taking part in such gatherings could face fines of up to 600 euros for ‘slight infringements’ of the law and between 301 euros up to 24,000 for a ‘serious infringement.’

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia – Photo: Marie Claire Richardson)