The Calvià City Council has decided to infiltrate plainclothes policemen among the Magaluf tourist groups to control crime in the area and put an end to the excesses that occur in one of the emblems of so-called drunken tourism. Thousands of young British spend their holidays in this area of Mallorca every year encouraged by bargains offered by hotel establishments. There, a new group rape of a British girl of only 18 years of age by six young French and Swiss tourists has just taken place this week. The boys abused her in her hotel room, where they had taken her, and recorded her assault with her mobile phones. A judge in Palma has ordered provisional detention for all of them after being arrested by the Civil Guard.
Magaluf concentrates bottle and sangria tourism, with a dense black hole in Punta Ballena street, where alcoholic offers of “everything for a hundred” and alcohol of dubious quality abound. Since the last regional elections, the Calvià City Council has been governed by PP and Vox, and this specific area has been left under the supervision of Vox's deputy mayor, Esperanza Catalá, who is the one who launched the decision to infiltrate police officers. At the moment there are four, but the objective is to increase the endowment, and there may be up to eight false tourists in the area on the hunt for criminals.
A spokesperson for the deputy mayor assures that a report is being prepared with all the actions carried out by the police officers disguised as tourists throughout this summer and that their conclusions will be made public shortly. As a small step forward, he points out that the work of these police officers is still essential since it focuses on inspection actions of the premises so that they comply with the anti-excess regulations, thefts on the area's beaches and drug trafficking and retailing. "The results are being so good that we want to continue this camouflaged surveillance during the winter and we will ask the Government Delegation to allow us to double the number of agents," says the spokesman.
In the Magaluf area, and also in Platja de Palma, a decree is in force to combat excess tourism that was approved by the previous Balearic government chaired by Francina Armengol. Since its approval, in a delimited area, the sale of alcohol in shops during the night is prohibited, alcoholic excursions through bars and pubs in the area are not authorized, the so-called pub crawling is prohibited, the happy hour offer is not allowed and the all-inclusive modality is not authorized in hotels in the area: up to three alcoholic drinks for lunch and another three for dinner can be included in your accommodation offer, but “all-inclusive” is not possible.
By virtue of this decree, and in the midst of this heavy-handed police policy of the new City Council under the direction of Vox, a fine of 100,000 euros has just been imposed on a business that violated the prohibition on selling alcohol at night and another of 160,000 euros to a company for organizing alcoholic excursions on boats, something that is not authorized either.
The decree penalizes balconing, both to those who practice it and to those who authorize it, and allows hotel owners to immediately expel tourists who intend to go from one room to another through the terraces. Whether due to the decree or for another reason, the truth is that this year there has been no case of balconing in the area, as the spokesperson points out.
Despite these actions to control this type of tourism, the City Council spokesman acknowledges that very worrying events continue to take place, such as this week's group rape. From the City Council they trust that the greater vigilance in the area and those more forceful measures to avoid excesses will prevent something similar from happening again.
However, the reality is that the one in Magaluf is the second group rape that has taken place this summer on the island. In Platja de Palma, the other major drunken tourism area in Mallorca, a young German woman reported a similar attack by six of her compatriots. The scheme is repeated, and the young woman was attacked in the hotel room where the rapists were staying. She also had to ask for help from the establishment's security services, which were the ones who filed the complaint with the police. The attack was recorded on video by one of the participants, and five of the six Germans who were initially arrested are still in Palma prison by order of a judge.
These two brutal violations have in common the fact that they have occurred inside the hotels where the aggressors spent their vacations, not in open spaces or in isolated areas on the street. The Mallorca Hotel Federation does not comment on this circumstance and merely points out that, for now, these are unfortunate cases that have taken place very occasionally and in two very specific points in Mallorca, so they are not a constant in tourist areas of the island and much less in accommodation.
