Fines of €750 for filling water jugs at public fountains in Martorell

Martorell, a 30-minute drive away from Barcelona, is home to around 28,000 inhabitants. On Monday night, the city council voted to issue fines of up to €750 for filling water jugs at public fountains.

The city mayor, Xavier Fonollosa, said that the measure was intended to make it more difficult for squatters in the municipality. The plan was approved with an absolute majority: 16 votes from pro-independence Junts and the support of the Socialists' two councilors. While the three left-wing members of Movem Martorell, a coalition of Comuns and Esquerra Republicana, voted against it.

Meanwhile, the civil society group Aliança per l'accés a l'aigua (Alliance for Water Access) is seeking signatures against a measure they claim is intended to "punish vulnerable people."

They already said that the local government has had several water fountains closed "for weeks."

"Access to water is not a privilege, it is a fundamental human right," the organization said of a "profoundly unfair" political decision.

They believe that there are "no real problems" that justify the decision, rather than only "punish vulnerable people to secure the hate vote during elections and avoid far-right parties from winning any seats in the city council."

Protestors said that they "will not accept that vulnerable families are pointed at, fined, or stigmatized."