The Murcia city council has begun this Thursday a round of inspections in large-capacity nightlife venues in the areas of Atalayas and Mariano de Rojas that have closure orders, in the event that they remain open as was the case with the nightclubs that burned down on Sunday, proceed to your precinct.
This was said today at a press conference by the vice mayor of Murcia, Rebeca Pérez, who has not specified how many establishments have a municipal order to cease activity, although she has recognized that these affect all types of businesses and "with a diverse casuistry." ”, not only to nightlife.
However, and after the tragedy that left 13 dead, the council has established a screening system: it will begin today to review the premises with this type of orders that have a large influx and that are concentrated in large nightlife areas, in Specifically, he mentioned Atalayas, where the damaged nightclubs were also located, and Mariano de Rojas Avenue.
The inspectors, he said, will check that the nightclubs that have so ordered are closed and, if not, they will proceed to seal them, a measure that was not carried out in the case of the Teatre room, which should have closed its doors. in January 2022 and that he never obtained permission to divide the warehouse in which the other burned premises, Fonda Milagros, was also located.
Pérez has said he does not know why the Teatre closure file did not follow “the logical progression”, which would have been to seal the premises after the visit that an inspector made in October 2022, and has insisted that the objective is now to determine if there are other files in the same situation, with closure orders that have not been executed.
“Due to the number of files” of cessation of activity, it has been necessary to carry out “a screening” to act “immediately” in those businesses with characteristics similar to those damaged: those in large areas dedicated to nightlife and that have a greater influx of public.
In addition, the Murcia city council is going to launch two new protocols aimed at improving "traceability" between the different departments of the local administration, one on "urban discipline" and another on "activity licenses."
It is about improving “security, control, rigor and agility” when comparing files and controlling the “margin of discretion of officials.”
Precisely, the city council announced yesterday that it has provisionally removed public workers related to the Teatre closure file from their duties.
The vice mayor has not determined how many officials there are, but has limited herself to saying that they are those who had a "direct" relationship with the file and who will no longer exercise the responsibilities they had until now.
Among other things, the new protocols, the drafting of which is already underway, he said, will allow the Local Police service to be incorporated into the work carried out by the inspectors, who are the ones who monitor the orders issued by the Consistory.
Regarding the possibility of the Murcia Regional Assembly opening a commission of inquiry into this matter, Pérez has insisted that the city council is the main interested party in clarifying the facts and, therefore, has launched an internal investigation from the first moment. from which the precautionary dismissal of the officials has been derived and which continues to advance to try to clarify everything that happened.
In addition, the regional Government is going to launch a specialized social and psychosocial care service for the relatives and friends of the 13 fatalities of the fire at the Atalayas nightclubs (Murcia), as reported this Thursday by the spokesperson for the regional Executive, Marcos Ortuño.
After the meeting of the Government Council, Ortuño explained that this service complements the measures implemented in this regard by the municipalities of Murcia and Caravaca de la Cruz, where the victims resided.
Furthermore, he recalled that the Government of Murcia has also launched financial aid for the relatives of the victims who cannot bear the expenses of the burial or repatriation of the deceased.
"The priority of the regional government is to help the families of the victims," said Ortuño, who has indicated that the autonomous Administration will assume the cost of the travel of the relatives of the deceased, from Ecuador, Nicaragua and Colombia, if so. They request it, so that they can come to Spain to take care of the bodies.
