More than 80,000 people went down to the beaches of Barcelona to celebrate the night of Sant Joan, as detailed this morning by the Deputy Mayor for Security, Albert Batlle. We are talking about 20,000 more people than last year. The City Council expected that on this occasion the figure of 60,000 attendees would be repeated. In the last decades, beyond the pandemic, attendance at this celebration had been dwindling. The festival of Sant Joan sees its massive character reinforced in this way.
Fortunately, there were no serious incidents in the city. And the city’s sandbanks returned to normal shortly after sunrise. The municipal cleaning workers, after agents of the Urban Guard and the Mossos d’Esquadra ordered the last revelers to go home, collected more than forty tons of waste in record time. Bathers were able to use the beaches normally around nine in the morning.
“The night passed in a festive, massive and normal way,” Deputy Mayor Batlle explained shortly. We have had the typical incidents of any weekend. We would like this normality to accompany us for the rest of the summer.”
The Urban Police carried out 269 breathalyzer controls, and of the 32 that gave a positive result, two were criminal. Two people were arrested for sexist violence. In addition, the city firefighters had to put out up to 34 burning containers. Also burned 24 bins, nine bushes, seven trees and three vehicles. The Urban Guard received a total of 1,925 calls requiring its action.
In reality, as Deputy Mayor Batlle himself added, the celebrations were mainly concentrated on the city’s coastline and the Ciutat Vella district. The truth is that many of the 5,000 cardboard bins set up for the occasion ended up fueling impromptu neighborhood bonfires. As is still typical of this fiesta, people of almost all ages joyfully jumped over the flames, some with more ease than others.
The Rambla del Raval and the Plaza de la Mercè in the Gothic Quarter, for example, hosted very lively popular festivals, aimed mainly at the people who live on these streets. In Barceloneta, many residents took out their tables and chairs, as is traditional in this festival. And on Consell de Cent street, in the new Eixample superblock, a few residents also had a great time.
