COP CLASH
Boozy Benidorm Brits clash with cops as they hit the town for last night out before coronavirus lockdown
POLICE in Benidorm had run-ins with boozy Brits as they enforced a coronavirus crackdown on groups of people drinking on the street.
Officers armed with batons had to break up one group around 3pm local time at the notorious Costa Blanca resort town.
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Reinforcements arrived as two local cops struggled to get them to move on.
One officer could be seen using force to push several people away as a colleague dealt with others who appeared to be resisting attempts to move them on.
A couple of hours later police had to deal with another large group of Brits who were drinking out of one-litre lager bottles and cans near the same spot outside the Trebol Apartments in Benidorm’s Levante Beach area.
One Brit could be overheard telling a police officer: “We’re not causing any trouble, we’re just walking away.”
This comes after Spanish politicians told locals to stay indoors yesterday and is said to be slapping a ban on people's movement in the next few hours.
BOOZY BRITS
The ban will allow people to only leave their homes and hotels under 'emergency' conditions.
But that message seems to be lost on some, one grinning tourist risked the wrath of expats and locals by holding up a pack of Corona lager as his shirtless pals downed drinks beside him.
Meanwhile all retail activity has been dramatically suspended in Spain due to the outbreak, Prime Minister Sanchez said.
The PM said the lockdown would include all shops except from basic necessities such as food.
Spain has over 6,000 cases of coronavirus while the death toll is 191.
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Today Jet2 and TUI cancelled hundreds of flights to Spain after the country and surrounding islands have been placed on a 15-day lockdown.
The conditions include going to buy food and pharmaceutical products, getting to their workplace and returning home, going to hospitals and filling their cars up with petrol.
Police in Benidorm have yet to make any official announcement on how they will deal with British tourists who insist on continuing to make supermarket booze runs and filling up trolleys with alcohol only.
But they are expected to try and put a stop to the practice on the basis the products are not essential items under the terms of the State of Alarm Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez said yesterday/on Friday he would bring into force.
We are in a crisis and people need to take this seriously.
Karen Maling Cowles, president of the Benidorm British Business Association, said today she was “saddened” and “sickened” by the scenes.
The expat, who had decided to self-isolate ahead of the government home confinement order and posted photos of exhausted frontline Spanish nurses on social media yesterday/on Saturday, said: “We are in a crisis and people need to take this seriously.
“Sadly it’s those who aren’t taking this seriously who will prolong this problem.
“While everybody’s out they could be infecting each other.
“It’s the minority of people who are in holiday mode who are forgetting what’s around on around them and it’s really sad.
“I just can’t understand why they are acting the way they are.
SPANISH LOCKDOWN
“They have to realise this can’t be a holiday for them because this is a health emergency.”
The scenes of Brit holidaymakers packing the seafront in Benidorm, despite red flags banning bathing, led to calls from angry expats and locals for them to be sent back home on the first planes available.
One said: “I hope that all the British who are currently partying in Benidorm don’t get any type of health assistance when they fall ill in our country.”
Another added: “I hope the first measure implemented as part of the State of Alarm is the immediate expulsion of these Brits.”
Miriam Gonzalez tweeted: “Tell the Brits in Benidorm the Spanish are staying indoors.
“They are being irresponsible by carrying on as if nothing was happening, they give British people a bad name.”
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Benidorm-based doctor Maria Diaz Gomez posted footage of tourists downing lager in packed bars in the resort’s Little England area ahead of last night’s (FRI) midnight lockdown banning them from opening for two weeks.
She said: “We are on call in Benidorm. Thousand of foreigners ignoring measures to contain the pandemic. How slowly the clock advances towards midnight.”
She added: “In a society of ‘Me’ and ‘Now’, it’s all we can expect.”
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