Police break up two illegal parties in Barcelona with over 100 people each
Owners of a rural house say 200 attended party after renting it to a family
Local Guàrdia Urbana police broke up two illegal parties in Barcelona's Poble Sec and Eixample neighborhoods this week.
Plainclothes officers forced the first party to come to an end on Wednesday night after finding over 200 people dancing and ignoring Covid-19 health and safety measures.
The second party, with 116 attendees, was broken up in the early hours of Thursday.
Aquesta setmana hem intervingut en festes, a dos locals de l'#Eixample, on es van detectar les següents infraccions:
— Guàrdia Urbana Barcelona (@GUBBarcelona) January 7, 2022
📃 Exercir una activitat diferent a l'autoritzada
😷 No respectar restriccions en matèria de #covid19
👉👉👥 Es van desallotjar 116 i 206 persones#gubUNEIX pic.twitter.com/xJK8Otdjx6
Under current Covid-19 restrictions, which have been extended until January 20 as cases remain high, only up to 10 people can get together in both public and private places.
The Catalan capital was not the only place where illegal festivities took place ahead of what is a long holiday weekend for most people in Catalonia.
The owners of a rural house in Vilobí del Penedès, in the wine country west of Barcelona, filed a complaint with the Mossos d'Esquadra police after renting out their home for what they were told would be a family gathering for Epiphany but finding, instead, that it was the site of a party with some 200 attendees.
Public broadcaster TV3 first broke the news of the event where organizers had been charging people up to €150 to attend.
Police were notified that a large number of people were in the area, but after arriving upon the scene shortly after 7 am on Thursday morning, they found that most of the party-goers had already departed.
The Mossos d'Esquadra launched an investigation to determine the identity of the organizers after the property owners reported the occurrence.